Colony finally scores elusive first win

PALMER — Apparently, nobody told the Colony High football team it was an underdog.

Even spotting Railbelt Conference-leading Lathrop a touchdown when senior tailback Chris Seminario returned the opening kickoff 83 yards, the Knights (1-4, 1-1) proved the cliché that it’s not how you start, but how you finish in a 28-23 come-from-behind win over the Malemutes (4-1, 2-1) at Colony.

While senior quarterback Bryce Niver threw for 198 yards and ran for 86 — including a hat-trick of rushing touchdowns — it was junior Logan Conway who scored the go-ahead touchdown with just 23.6 seconds left in the game to complete an emotional fourth-quarter rally for the Knights on homecoming. On a play head coach Brian McIntosh said was designed to put the Knights in field goal position, Conway plowed into the end zone from 7 yards out.

“Never had a feeling like it before,” Conway said, adding that when his number was called in the huddle, he was ready. “It’s crunch time, baby, that’s what I’m thinking. It’s all or nothing right here. It’s going to make or break us.”

Trailing 23-14 with 9:41 left to play, the Colony offense took over. Niver capped an eight-play, 75-yard drive with a 28-yard scramble on a broken pass play to cut the Lathrop lead to 23-21.

“That was a long-developing pass play and I saw the pocket collapse, so I just ran around to the back side and it was there,” Niver said of the play.

The Malemutes answered with a 10-play drive that ended in a missed field goal with 2:52 on the clock. in that time, Niver led the Knights 80 yards down the field in 12 plays and Colony slammed the door with Conway’s run.

“Wow,” McIntosh said of the emotional win. “We were moving the ball pretty good — at times too quickly. I wanted to run the clock because Lathrop has so much speed. I was trying to get into field goal position and Logan just busted that one in.”

Along with finding their first “W”, the Knights also doubled their rushing touchdown tally for the season. Colony came into the game with two scores on the ground. Niver, who has developed into one of the state’s top passers, said he has trouble recalling the last time he found the end zone three times on the ground.

“Running? Not since JV, I think. It’s been awhile,” he said. “It’s a nice mix-up, whatever gets the job done.”

The loss overshadowed an impressive performance by Lathrop’s Seminario. Along with scoring on the opening kickoff, he finished as the game’s leading rusher with 116 yards on 17 carries. He also caught five passes for 54 yards.

For some teams struggling to find a win, opening the game allowing a long return can be deflating, but not for the Knights, McIntosh said.

“Honestly, it didn’t faze us,” he said. “We felt we let the Juneau game slip by and that’s given us some confidence. This team looked at it and just said, ‘OK, what’s next?’”

For Colony, the win also marked the return of receiver Daniel Bilafer, who had been out with an injury. He looked fully healed on Friday, catching 10 passes for 129 yards, including a couple that set up 1-yard Niver touchdown runs.

The chemistry Niver and Bilafer have on the field wasn’t lost on Lathrop head coach Rusty Ham. He also said Colony came into the game much better than its record.

“They’re too good, too well-coached to look past them,” he said. “It was a great game. … (Niver) is super fast and we lost containment on him a couple of times and he burned us, and he’s got a good arm, too.”

Lathrop saw the duo hook up on Colony’s first drive, a 23-yard strike that put the Knights on the Lathrop 6-yard line. Two plays later, Niver scored his first touchdown from a yard out to tie the scored at 7.

On the ensuing possession, the Malemutes showed some offensive staying power of their own, driving to the Colony 10-yard line before stalling. Lathrop took a 10-7 lead off a Nathan Barnett 27-yard field goal after a dropped pass in the end zone.

Colony would answer again on their next possession with another Niver 1-yard score to take a 14-10 lead into the second quarter, which is where the defenses would take over with the teams holding each other scoreless until the fourth quarter.

To start the final quarter of play, Lathrop quarterback Robert Tanner connected with Seminario from 13 yards out to retake the lead 17-10, then Seminario tallied his third TD of the game on a 2-yard plunge up the middle with 9:47 left to push the lead to 23-14. That proved just enough time for Colony. Niver scored his third TD of the night on a 28-yard run with 6:51 left, and after the missed Lathrop field goal, the Knights pulled off their game-winning drive.

Even with Niver and Bilafer leading a tenacious Colony offense, the Malemutes missed chances to win the game, Ham said.

“We’re still a young team and we’re still working on a lot of issues and mental mistakes,” he said. “But we still hung in there. It was a close game and we made a lot of mistakes, probably one of our worst offensive showings.”

Those mental mistakes include three personal fouls on the final Colony drive, including one on fourth down inside the Lathrop 10 that gave the Knights a first down. They scored two plays later.

Contact Greg Johnson at 352-2269 or greg.johnson@frontiersman.com.

Colony 28, Lathrop 23

Friday, Colony High School

First quarter:

Lathrop: Seminario 83 kickoff return (Barnett kick) 11:47.

Colony: Niver 1 run (Bilafer kick) 7:19.

Lathrop: Barnett 27 FG 5:21.

Colony: Niver 1 run (Bilafer kick) 2;09.

Second quarter:

No scoring

Third quarter:

No scoring

Fourth quarter:

Lathrop: Seminario 13 pass from Tanner (Barnett kick) 11:18.

Lathrop: Seminario 2 run (kick failed) 9:47.

Colony: Niver 28 run (Bilafer kick) 6:51.

Colony: Conway 7 run (Bilafer kick) 0:23.6.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS:

RUSHING — Colony: Niver 18-86, Conway 15-46, Summers 1-11; Lathrop: Seminario 17-116, Cannon 6-47, O’Neal 3-14, Tanner 8-6.

PASSING — Colony: Niver 22-31-1—198; Lathrop: Tanner 11-26-1—132.

RECEIVING — Colony: Bilafer 10-129, Bush 5-35, Looney 5-23, Summers 2-11; Lathrop: Seminario 5-54, Ford 5-54, Cannon 1-24.