PALMER — It wasn’t the prettiest of goals, but it was enough to help the Knights earn the Northern Lights Conference title.

Senior Jess McKee sparked the Knights with a goal during the first 10 minutes of play and Colony worked its way to a 2-0 win over the Wasilla Warriors during the final game of the Northern Lights Conference Championships at Palmer High School on Saturday.

Standing strong in front of the net, McKee knocked a loose ball in to post the only goal of the match until Colony junior Aaron Richardson iced the game with a penalty kick during the 75th minute.

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McKee crashed the Colony goal following an Oliver Querin shot to get what would be a game-winning goal.

“I saw the opportunity. (Wasilla goalkeeper Eli Tingstad) dropped to the ground, the ball was loose and it bounced around,” said McKee, who had multiple stabs at the ball before he finally scored. “The last touch actually went in.”

Colony head coach Jeremy Johnson said that’s the type of play he expects from players such as McKee.

“That’s kind of what we do. (Cody) Fritz and Jess McKee, we know those guys are spark plugs,” Johnson said. “They’re not the tallest guys, they’re not going to win a bunch of headers. But they’re scrappy guys who work really hard. That’s what Jess did. He followed his shot as it bobbled around and put a foot on it.”

While Colony used McKee’s goal to grab the momentum during the first half, Wasilla had a number of solid chances during the second.

“Colony consistently held possession a lot in the first half, particularly in the first 20 minutes,” Wasilla head coach Blake Livingston said. “In the second half, we pushed really hard.”

During the 66th minute, Wasilla junior Matthew Friese crashed the net following a Tillerman Kroon free kick, but Colony goalkeeper Elliott Gilbert was able to come up with the save.

In the 71st minute, Gilbert needed a little help from senior co-captain Chris Bardsley to hold onto the shutout.

As the teams broke into the final 10 minutes of regulation, Ray Keown and Peter Berezyuy got deep into the box as the ball bounced around. With Gilbert too far to the right, Bardsley filled a hole at the front of the left side of the net and cleared the ball free before either Keown or Berezyuy could knock the game-tying shot in.

“They got in the box, but I felt we cleaned up the box pretty well,” Johnson said. “We didn’t force Elliott to keep us in the game. Our team as a whole defended really well. We didn’t rely on Elliott, which I thought was really nice.”

Richardson gave Colony some insurance when he converted a penalty kick during the 75th minute. Jesse Rouse set up the opportunity, when he was pulled down inside the box.

This is the second meeting between the Valley rivals in less than a week. Last Saturday, the teams played to a 1-1 tie at Wasilla High School. Looking at that and the battles during recent years, Johnson knew it would be a tough, low scoring game.

“I expected that. Wasilla’s a good team. I expect them to do well next week,” Johnson said.

Both NLC champion Colony and runner-up Wasilla now move on to the ASAA state tournament, which starts Wednesday at Anchorage Football Stadium.

Colony 4, Grace Christian 0

PALMER — Sophomore James Meaney scored a pair of goals to lead Colony to a 4-0 win over Grace Christian during the NLC semifinals on Friday.

Oliver Querin and Jess McKee also scored.

Soldotna 2, Grace Christian 1

PALMER — Soldotna used two goals in the first eight minutes to edge Grace Christian 2-1 in the NLC third-place game.

With the win, Soldotna earns the final of three NLC state tourney berths.

Jeff Mullen and Blaine Carver scored for SoHi. Ryan Groeneweg scored for Grace in the 75th minute.

Wasilla 1, Soldotna 0

PALMER — Ray Keown scored in the 26th minute to lead Wasilla to a 1-0 win over Soldotna in the NLC semifinals on Friday.

Eli Tingstad earned the shutout in the WHS goal.

Soldotna junior, Nikiski coach honored

PALMER — Soldotna junior Blaine Carver and Nikiski head coach Jim Coburn earned major awards on Saturday.

Carver was named the NLC Most Valuable Player and Coburn is the conference’s coach of the year.

First-team All-NLC

Blaine Carver, Soldotna; Bridger Van Ness, Colony; Oliver Querin, Colony; Aaron Sharrow, Wasilla; Tillerman Kroon, Wasilla; Donovan Hard, Palmer; Cody Woodcock, Kenai; Daniel Geller, Soldotna; Borja Angoitia, Wasilla; Javier Guerri, Kenai; Chris Bardsley, Colony; Matt Grubb, Soldotna; Kyle Van Ryzin, Soldotna; Collin Murphy, Colony.

Second-team All-NLC

Mike Erving, Grace; James Meaney, Colony; Ryan Gruenwig, Grace; garrett Byerly, Soldotna; Josh Lazarro, Kenai; Stefen Krogseng, Nikiski; Mark Walsworth, Homer; Aaron Arnold, Grace; Paul Sliwa, Wasilla; Brad Primmer, Wasilla; David Buckley, Homer; Wiley Bennett, Nikiski; Anthony Griglione, Soldotna; Eric Francisco, Grace; Eli Tingstand, Wasilla.