Colony takes Regions

MAT-SU — Colony boys' soccer coach Jeremey Johnson is a superstitious man.

To every game he wears the same green knit hat, the same bulky coat, and the same old sneakers. They give him, and his team, luck, he said.

It may have been luck, but it was also skill, that gave the Knights their second Region III title in a row. They beat the Palmer Moose 4-1 Saturday.

"We've got skilled players," Johnson said after the game, tearing off his thick jacket in the 60-plus-degree heat. "Both sides played good games. Sometimes it comes down to effort and I think we made the best one."

Palmer started out the scoring with a goal by Kyle Rustin 19 minutes into the game. But it took Colony only a minute to answer.

Gabe Pepperd picked up a centering pass by Colony's Nick Van Kirk to tie the score at 1-1.

It looked as if it would stay that way through the half, until Brandon Inham got hold of the ball.

With just a minute left, he gave the Knights the go-ahead goal, scoring amid a flurry of players in front of the Moose net.

Landon Swank's penalty kick at 66 minutes and Richie Leibsher's goal with about 10 minutes to play, rounded out Colony's scoring line.

Palmer's Travis Rapp, whose goal the day before against Wasilla with eight minutes left to play won the game, was helped off the field in the second half after being kicked by Knights player Jake Templin.

It turned out to be only a bruise below the calf and Rapp was back in the game soon after.

For Colony, Swank scored one of the team's three shootout goals the day before against Kenai, when the Knights beat the Kardinals 3-0.

Ben Williams and Kit Pace scored the other two in the 110-minute game (two 40-minute halves in regulation play, a 20-minute overtime, and a 10-minute sudden death).

After shutting out the Kardinals Friday, Colony did the same to Skyview, handing them a 4-0 loss.

Casey Zell scored the first goal of the game and Pace scored the second on a perfect cross pass by Zell.

Van Kirk scored Colony's third and Chad Miller got the final goal, to cap the game at 4.

"Our goalie, Andrew (Kowalczk), made two great saves in that game," Johnson said.

As for Palmer, they beat Homer 2-zip and Wasilla 1-0, to make it to the Region finals.

Moose coach Don Berberich said he thought his boys could have played a better championship game

"We could have communicated a little better," he said. "I think it was the result of a two-day tournament. We didn't get in until 11 last night."

After winning the Region title, the Colony players, in traditional winner style, poured a cooler of ice water over their coach.

Although Johnson knows his players are skilled he's not taking any chances during state.

He'll be sporting his lucky hat and jacket.

As for the shoes, he says, he might not take them off for a week, until the state tourney is over.

Colony, Palmer and Kenai will be heading to the Alaska School Activities Association State Championship.

The championship starts next Thursday and will be held throughout the weekend at both Dimond High and the Anchorage Football Stadium.