East shuts down Colony in second half, tops Knights

PALMER — With a strong defense and a stout offensive line that controlled the tempo, the East Thunderbirds (2-0) swooped into Colony (1-1) to knock down the Knights 22-7 Friday night at Colony High School.

After the Knights took a 7-6 lead after the first quarter, the Thunderbirds locked down on defense to keep the Knights from scoring the rest of the game. They also held the Knights to only 103 yards on offense, with their defensive line ripping through the Colony line.

“We’ve got a lot to work on, honestly,” Colony head coach Rhett Magner said after the loss. “I mean we knew that last week, as well you know. There’s some things we need to get better at. Some things we need to clean up. Execution was not very good, effort was not very good, energy was not very good.”

The Knights defense, on the other hand, played through multiple injuries to force turnovers to keep the game close. Interceptions by players like senior Nolan Martin, helped the Knights keep the Thunderbirds from taking early leads. The Knights defense had the fun task of facing against one of the better running backs in Alaska. East senior Johnny Afuvai had success early, racking up 57 yards on 11 carries. It wasn’t the yardage that hurt the Knights, but the bruising power of Afuvai that set long plays for the Thunderbirds. Senior quarterback, Carson Washburn, opened up the passing game hitting another senior in Sam Logoleo for a 48-yard bomb into the Knights’ territory. This was execution Magner was talking about when the Thunderbirds torched the Knights on the outside with multiple bubble passes.

The Knights did have a few plays on offense where the execution finally clicked.

Senior running back, Dawson Nash, brought Colony deep into East’s side of the field on a 66-yard run on the outside which was set up by the blocking scheme getting the outside sealed. However, that was one of the only plays on offense that worked for the Knights.

“I think we just got to realize that it’s going to take, to be state champions,” said Nash. “Like the work we need to put in, it’s just so much more than we’ve been doing.”

Some of the positives that the Knights can take from this game is that they play rival Palmer next week. Both teams have lost to East, with film watching could be the key to the game next week. Magner spoke about the team’s mentality going into next week’s matchup.

“It’s good, it’s high. Any time we play a Valley opponent we’ll be ready to go. We’ll be fired up. Injuries got us a little bit tonight. A couple of our guys went down, couple of backups went in, they did their job. Now it’s time for them to be number one. Now you’re starters, so you’ve got to play like one. That’s our mentality for our whole team,” said Magner about his team going into next week.

East 22, Colony 7

Friday, Colony High

First Quarter:

East- Washburn 1 run (Reed Kick Blocked)

Colony- Pomrenke 11 pass from Kizer (Krozel Kick Good).

Third Quarter:

East- Malnoske 4 run (2 PT Fail)

Fourth Quarter:

East- Reed 44 Field Goal

East- Baker 2 run (Reed Kick Good)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING- East: Malnoske 19-70, Hague 2-(-4), Afuvai 11-57, Ala 2-6, Washburn 6-0, Collins 2-(-5), Logoleo 1-5, Baker 1-2; Colony: Kizer 10-12, Nash 7-60, Havel 9-15, Hessinger 1-4, Pomrenke 1-1.

PASSING- East: Washburn 5-14-2--93; Colony: Kizer 1-6-1--11

RECEIVING- East: Logoleo 4-91, Williams 1-2; Colony: Pomrenke 1-11