Big plays lift Knights

PALMER -- It was a big play day for quarterback Rhett Magner and the Colony Knights.

Magner tossed a career-high five touchdown passes and led the Knights to a 42-14 win over Palmer on Friday.

The Palmer Moose held the ball for nearly two-thirds of the contest, posting an unofficial time of possession of more than 30 minutes of the 48-minute game, but the Knights used the quick strike to improve to 6-0 with the win over the Moose.

Magner hit Justin Schwartzbauer on three touchdown passes, and the senior signal caller also connected with Billy Collins and Austin Manelick on long scores. With plenty of time to scan through the Palmer defensive backfield, Magner completed nine of 15 attempts for 233 yards.

"The protection was awesome today," Magner said. "Palmer was blitzing their linebackers, and half that credit goes to our backs Shawn [Olivera] and Ricky [Cunningham] for picking them up.

"We were working on that all week because we knew (Palmer linebacker) Jake Heun was going to blitz," Magner added. "I had no pressure whatsoever."

Even when Colony was trying to establish the run, Magner and the Knights struck with the pass.

"A lot of those he called himself," Colony head coach Randy Magner said. "He saw stuff and he executed."

The Knights took an early 7-0 lead as Magner connected with Collins on an 83-yard scoring pass. On the play the Knights sent Collins and Cunningham down the right side of the field. Cunningham, the intended receiver on the play, slipped, but Magner found Collins in the area.

"In practice I never get the ball on the same play," Collins said. "I didn't expect it. It wasn't even going for me."

With Cunningham on the ground and a pair of Palmer defenders heading toward Collins, the Colony senior made an adjustment and reached over the head of a Moose defensive back and snagged the ball.

"I heard Justin Schwartzbauer behind me. He gave me a great block and I started running," Collins said.

Collins caught three passes for 114 yards in the game.

"It felt good catching some balls," Collins said.

Later in the quarter, with the Knights facing third-and-long, Schwartzbauer turned a 5-yard pass into a 46-yard score. The senior flanker caught the quick slant, dodged a pair of tacklers and cut across the field toward the end zone.

The score was the first of three touchdown catches for Schwartzbauer. He caught a 13-yard touchdown pass on a pinpoint Magner throw to the end zone in the second quarter and hauled in a 3-yard scoring catch after Magner audibled out of the run in the third quarter.

Magner also hit Manelick on a 52-yard scoring pass in the third quarter.

The Knights were forced to absorb at least a small defeat in their victory.

After allowing just six points in their first five games of the season, the Knights allowed a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns to Palmer. Steel Tubbs scored on 1- and 3-yard runs late in the fourth quarter, putting at least a dent in what has been an impenetrable defense.

"I'm down because of that," Collins said. "We didn't want anyone to score. It doesn't seem like we're as good now, not like gods on defense. In practice we'll just have to pick it up."

Palmer put together a 12-play drive, starting early in the fourth quarter, and Tubbs capped off the march with a 3-yard dive behind the left side of the Moose offensive line. Tubbs' score was the first Colony allowed in 13 quarters. The stingy Knight defense had not allowed a touchdown since Kenai running back Dakota Craig scored in the second quarter of the Kardinals' 31-6 loss at Colony during week three.

"We've only been scored on one time, so we were trying to keep that going," Rhett Magner said. "When they got that close, we tried to step it up, but they wanted it more."

Late in the quarter, Palmer quarterback Jeremy Weber connected with wide receiver David Abbott on a 69-yard pass. The play set up Tubbs' second score of the game.

The young Palmer offense continued to show improvement and a greater comfort level in its sophisticated spread, shotgun offense. The Moose rushed for 233 yards in the game, and Weber added 125 yards

passing.

"Palmer had a great offensive plan and executed well," Randy Magner said. "definately better than anyone has done on us this year. What impressed me is they did a lot of new stuff this week. Just four days and they put all of this."

Random hits … Colony celebrated its homecoming festivities on Friday and had an attendance of more than 1,500 … Colony remains in a tie with North Pole at the top of the Railbelt Conference standings. The Knights and Patriots are each 3-0 in conference play. Colony faces Wasilla next week and North Pole plays at Lathrop. The Knights and Patriots will possibly play for the conference crown, Oct. 2 at Colony High School … Palmer dropped to 1-3 in conference play. With Railbelt game remaining, a contest against Wasilla on Oct. 1, the Moose may need help to claim a playoff berth. Wasilla, 2-1, is on the verge of a postseason berth, and Lathrop is 1-2 and holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over Palmer. West Valley is 0-3 in conference play and has been eliminated from postseason play.