Golden Bears sprint past Knights, into second round

PALMER — As his team huddled on the far side of the field for the final time during the 2009 season, Colony head coach Jamie Mayo didn’t shy away from taking responsibility for the Knights’ 34-12 loss to the Bartlett Golden Bears in the first round of the ASAA large-schools state championships.

“We practiced all week for almost all of the things they did, and either we didn’t prepare them properly or they’re just that much better than us,” Mayo said. “And I have a hard time believing that they’re that much better than us.

“I’m not going to take anything away from them. They played a great game, and they did deserve to win, but I don’t think they’re 22 points better than us.”

Bartlett senior Jamal Hale ran for a game-high 182 yards and two touchdowns during the win to help the Golden Bears earn a semifinal date with North Pole Friday at Anchorage Football Stadium.

Hale sprinted for an 88-yard score and plunged into the end zone from two yards out during a two-minute span midway through the second quarter to give the Bears a 14-0 lead.

Hale’s 88 yard burst through the Colony defense, and sprint down the left sideline was hard for Mayo for stomach.

“I made the wrong call at the wrong time, and they ran the right play,” Mayo said. “That one big run, I have to take responsibility for that. That was my call.”

Hale and his backfield mate, senior Cyrus Chenault, — each with lightning speed — combined for more than 200 yards and three scores in the win. The duo had combined for nearly 1,700 yards and 18 touchdowns during the regular season.

Mayo knew speed would undoubtedly factor into Bartlett’s game plan.

“We knew once they got to the edge, once they got through our linebackers, with the speed they have, we knew it was going to be tough to slow them down,” Mayo said.

Junior Kenyon DePriest and senior Tyler Jimanez posted second-half touchdowns for CHS.

DePriest cut Bartlett’s advantage to 21-6 early in the third quarter with a 66-yard touchdown catch.

With the Knights facing 3rd-and-long in their own territory, senior quarterback Matt Jaronik found DePriest streaking down the right sideline. Bartlett defensive back Jordan Blount-O’Conner made a play at the ball, but DePriest was able to snag the pass and ran untouched into the end zone.

Jimanez added a 6-yard touchdown late in the game.

Junior Skye Rench led the Knights with 71 yards on 17 carries in the game.

“Skye had a great game tonight,” Mayo said. “That kid ran as hard as I’ve seen him run all year. We knew he had the ability, we just needed to give him space and let him take over. There were a couple of times where that’s about all we gave him, a little space. And he took over.”

Johnny Daly and Ricky Lisenby also scored for Bartlett.

Daly, a former starter on the Palmer varsity before transferring to Bartlett, blocked a Colony punt and recovered the ensuing fumble in the end zone midway through the third quarter to give the Bears the 27-6 lead.

Lisenby added a 1-yard score with 51 seconds left in the third.

The loss was Colony’s second straight after starting the season with a 7-0 record. Despite the back-to-back losses, Mayo said he’s extremely proud of his players.

“Out of all the team’s I’ve been associated with at Colony, I’m probably more proud of this team than any other team,” the longtime Colony coach said. “These guys have overcome a lot of different things through the year. Nobody expected us to be where we’re at. If you talked to people at the beginning of the year, there weren’t’ a whole lot of people who thought we’d be here tonight. I have nothing but the utmost respect for these players.”

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.

Bartlett 34, Colony 12

Friday, Colony High School

Second quarter

Bartlett — Hale 88 run (Tufuga kick) 8:38.

Bartlett — Hale 2 run (Tufuga kick) 6:35.

Bartlett — Chenault 19 run (Tufuga kick) 1:20.

Third quarter

Colony — DePriest 66 pass from Jaronik (kick blocked) 8:57.

Barltett — Daly recovered fumble in end zone (kick blocked) 4:24.

Bartlett — Lisenby 1 run (Tufuga kick) 0:51.

Fourth quarter

Colony — Jimanez 6 run (pass failed) 4:58.

Individual statistics

RUSHING — Bartlett: Hale 16-182, Chenault 16-50, Blount-O’Connor 3-9, Lisenby 3-3, Enoch 1-2, Dyett 1-2, Anthony 1-(-1), Highlander 5-(-16); Colony: Rench 17-71, Jaronik 16-50, Jimanez 4-32, McGraw 2-30, Lowrey 2-(-1).

PASSING — Bartlett: Highlander 1-2-0—5; Colony: Jaronik 8-26-2—131.

RECEIVING — Bartlett: Chenault 1-5; Colony: DePriest 3-74, Fan 2-28, Summers 1-13, Ciucci 1-9, Michaelson 1-7.