Gut check

PALMER — Call it a gut check.

Top-seeded Colony needed three second-half goals to post a 4-2 come-from-behind victory over the fourth-seeded Nikiski Bulldogs during the first round of the Northern Lights Conference Championships at Colony High School on Thursday.

Dylan Crawford, Oliver Querin and Aaron Richardson scored during the final 40 minutes of play to lead Colony into the semifinal round and prevent a scrappy Nikiski squad from pulling off the biggest upset of the first day of the NLC tourney.

Actually, all of Colony’s scoring came during the final 41 minutes of play. After Nikiski took the early 2-0 lead in the first 28 minutes, Colony didn’t get onto the scoreboard into Querin scored the first of his two goals of the match during the final minute of the first half.

“Hard work beats skill,” Colony head coach Jeremy Johnson said. “They had the hard work.”

Nikiski’s Josh Hall gave the Bulldogs the one-goal lead with a breakaway score before the clock even hit one full minute in the match.

“We misjudged a flighted ball and the kid got a breakaway,” Johnson said. “You can’t blame the goalie for that. We misjudged the ball and didn’t have the right coverage.”

During the 28th minute, Colony was whistled for a hand-ball inside the box, and Stefan Krogseng converted the penalty kick to push Nikiski’s lead to 2-0.

Some may have been shocked by Nikiski’s early lead on the top seed from the NLC North.

Johnson wasn’t.

“Nobody should be surprised,” Johnson said. “I wasn’t.”

Last season, Colony slipped past Nikiski 3-2 in the opening round of the NLC tourney.

“Nikiski’s improved every single year,” Johnson added. “They get better and better. They show up every single year and give us a game. Nikiski shows up when it gets to region and they’ve got kids who are willing to work hard.”

Querin and Crawford each scored during the first two minutes of the second half to give Colony the lead.

Richardson converted a penalty kick during the 77th minute to cap the scoring.

“It was disappointing to let the lead slip like that, but I’m not disappointed in our players,” Nikiski head coach Jim Coburn said.

Nikiski nearly pulled off the upset despite a juggling act that preceded the tourney. The Bulldogs and Knights were originally scheduled to face at 3 p.m. on Thursday, but were penciled into the 1 p.m. time slot to ensure that the Bulldogs’ six seniors would make it back to the Peninsula in time for the school’s graduation ceremony on Thursday night.

“They didn’t let all the distractions we had going distract the game,” Coburn said.

Colony moves forward to face Grace Christian at 5 p.m. today at Palmer High in the NLC semifinals.

Grace Christian 3, Kenai 1

PALMER — Grace Christian posted the upset of the day, knocking off second-seeded Kenai Central 3-1.

Arnold Andrew scored twice to lead the Grizzlies into the semifinals to face top-seeded Colony at 5 p.m. at Palmer High.

Kenai’s lone goal, a Javier Guerri score, came in the 79th minute.

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