Knights blank Warriors; stay undefeated

PALMER — There are days when running across the Colony High School varsity football field can be likened to sprinting into a wind tunnel.

Wednesday was one of those days.

But after nearly 15 years on the Colony sidelines, Knights head coach Jeremy Johnson certainly knows how to deal with the windy weather that frequents CHS.

“I’d rather have the wind in the second half,” Johnson said after his team’s 1-0 win over the Wasilla Warriors. “We might as well play our toughest half first.”

After a scoreless first half, the Knights used the wind to their advantage and scored the game’s lone goal during the final 40 minutes of play.

Senior Tim Jaronik knocked in a header off a long Logan Smith throw-in during the 64th minute.

Smith, standing about 40 yards from the net, heaved a toss that carried in the wind to the far corner of the goalie box. There, Jaronik emerged from a crowd to deflect the ball past Wasilla goalkeeper Eli Tingstad.

Although the wind may have helped Smith’s throw get to the goalie box, Johnson said regardless of conditions, the sophomore has the power to put the throw-in just about anywhere he wants.

“Wind or not, anything from the half is going inside the box,” Johnson said.

Jaronik’s score was one of a handful of scoring opportunities the Knights created in the second half.

“I thought in the first half we used the wind to our advantage and did a lot of positive things,” Wasilla head coach Blake Livingston said. “In the second half, they definitely had on our heels. They had a lot of opportunities, throw-ins, set pieces and they happened to take advantage of one.”

On those windy days, Johnson said he always tells his team at halftime, “we’re going downhill; it’s the second half.”

“When you have the wind at your back it really makes you feel like you’re going downhill,” Johnson said. “When you come out of that first half tied or up a goal it really puts the pressure on the other

team.”

And that’s exactly what happened.

Colony set up a pair of legitimate scoring chances in the first two minutes of the second half.

“We should have knocked in two in the first minute,” Johnson said.

Sophomore Jesse Rouse put a shot just above the left corner of the net during the 41st minute. In the 42nd minute, standing alone deep in Wasilla’s defensive zone, Jaronik put a shot above the net.

Freshman James Meaney nearly converted on a pair of chances late in the game. Meaney slightly missed the net on a header off a Rouse corner kick in the 65th minute.

In the 66th minute, Meaney took a pass from Matt Kelly near the goal, and just missed an open net. Kelly’s pass pulled Tingstad away from the goal to give Meaney an open opportunity to give the Knights the two-goal lead, but the forward’s shot went just to the left of the net.

In the 71st minute, Tingstad needed a diving stop to make a save on a Jaronik shot.

“In that 10-minute shift (Meaney and Jaronik) could have had about five goals between them,” Johnson said.

With the win, Colony improved to 8-0-1 overall and 4-0-0 in the NLC. The only blemish on the Knights nearly perfect mark was a 1-1 tie against the Warriors early in the season.

Games featuring Colony, Palmer and Wasilla this season have been consistently low-scoring. Both Colony and Wasilla earned 1-0 wins over Palmer earlier this week.

“Whenever you have a Valley rivalry it’s gonna be competitive,” Livingston said.

With the win, Colony clinched the NLC Northern Division top seed in next week’s conference tournament. The Knights will face the fourth seed from the Southern Division Thursday at 1 p.m. at Soldotna High School.

Wasilla (2-2-0) in conference play could enter the conference tourney as either a second or third seed. Palmer (1-2-0) faces Grace Christian (2-1-0) Saturday at Anchorage Football Stadium. A Moose win would create a three-way tie at second place, and the seeds would be determined by a series of tiebreakers.

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