Colony boys, girls blank Kodiak in NLC quarters

PALMER — During the 2015 region quarterfinals, as Colony hosted Kodiak, the Knights managed to open the match with a goal before the Bears even touched the ball.

Fast forward two years later.

Thursday, Kodiak junior Daniel Corrillo nearly did the exact same thing to the Knights. The Bears took the ball off the opening whistle, Corrillo weaved his way up the right side and blasted a shot off the palms of Colony goalkeeper Quinn Larson.

But that would prove to be Kodiak’s best opportunity of the night.

Colony scored in the second minute of play, and cruised to an 8-0 victory over Kodiak during the Northern Lights Conference Championships boys’ semifinals at Colony High School.

“Scary,” Colony coach Jeremy Johnson said of Corrillo’s shot. “Nice save by Quinn right off the bat. I guess we didn’t show up the first minute. We let them go down. They beat our one outside back. That created space for them, and luckily our goalkeeper made a really nice save.”

Going into the game, Johnson said the Knights were not quite sure what to expect from Kodiak.

“Complete unknown,” Johnson said.

A Corrillo goal in the first minute most likely would have not decided the outcome, but Johnson said the Knights didn’t want to give the underdogs — a Kodiak team playing in just its third region tournament in school history — extra opportunities.

“You don’t want to give them any let up. You want to slam the door on them as quickly as possible,” Johnson said.

After Larson made the save for the Knights, Colony marched to the other end and took a 1-0 lead during the second minute.

Sophomore Noah Krozel scored four goals for the Knights, who advanced to the semifinal round and will face Homer Friday at 1 p.m. at Colony High. Sophomore Kyle Dearborn, senior Chayse Eby, sophomore Travis Bekkedahl and senior Tucker Sawyer also scored for Colony.

Krozel scored the first of his four goals in the second minute to give the Knights a quick lead.

“The early goal was nice, but we had the better of the play after that,” Johnson said.

Colony girls 8, Kodiak 0

Gabby Wakaliuk netted a hat trick to lead Colony to an 8-0 win over Kodiak in the NLC girls’ quarterfinals Thursday at Colony High.

Hailey Valdez added a pair of goals, and Jazlyn Nino, Isabella Brown and Annie Kessler also scored for Colony.

Kenai boys 6, Palmer 1

Kenai moved into a semifinal match with rival Soldotna thanks to a 6-1 quarterfinal win over Palmer Thursday night at Palmer High.

Zack Tuttle led Kenai with a hat trick. Palmer’s season ended with the loss.

Homer boys 1, Wasilla 0

Simon Dye converted a penalty kick in the second half to lead Homer to a 1-0 win over Wasilla in the NLC quarterfinals Thursday at Palmer High.

Wasilla’s season ended with the loss.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.