Knights cash in during win over Warriors

PALMER — Sometimes, earning a victory simply comes down to taking advantage of opportunities.

And when Colony had its chances, the Knights cashed in.

Colony turned three fumble recoveries into 17 second-half points during a 44-19 win over the Wasilla Warriors at Colony High School on Friday.

“That’s huge. Anytime you can get turnovers, but especially when you can turn them into points,” Colony senior Ben McGraw said. “That’s always huge. It makes it easier for everyone.”

McGraw and fellow seniors J.D. Mayo and Eric Fan each celebrated senior night and homecoming at Colony High by recovering fumbles that helped set up second-half points.

McGraw recovered a fumble on the opening kickoff of the second half, and three plays later senior Matt Jaronik scored.

Mayo picked up a loose ball in Wasilla territory late in the third, and junior Connor Weihs followed with a 30-yard field goal.

Early in the fourth, Fan watched as a ball on another kickoff bounced right into his hands. He returned the fumble deep into Wasilla’s end, and movements later, Jaronik found senior Kenyon DePriest in the corner of the end zone for a 17-yard score.

“Three turnovers inside the 20 led to 17 points. We haven’t lost when we won the turnover battle, and we haven’t won when lost the turnover battle,” Wasilla head coach Glenn Nelson said of his Warriors, who dropped to 2-4 after suffering their first loss since late August.

In all, the late recoveries helped Colony improve to 6-0 overall and 4-0 in Railbelt Conference play. The Knights clinched a playoff spot with the win, and their victory combined with North Pole’s 26-14 win over Juneau-Douglas on Saturday leave the Knights alone at the top of the Railbelt standings.

Jaronik, Colony’s senior quarterback, accounted for more than 200 yards of total offense and factored into five of Colony’s six touchdowns.

Jaronik threw for three touchdowns — finding Fan, DePriest and Greg Michaelson for scores — and ran for a pair of touchdowns.

Jaronik helped Colony take the quick 13-0 lead early in the first quarter. He put the Knights on the scoreboard with an 8-yard run four minutes into the game, and four minutes later he led the Knights down the field on the drive that was capped by a Skye Rench touchdown run.

Wasilla managed to put five points on the scoreboard early in the second quarter. Paul Sliwa gave the Warriors their first points of the game with a 31-yard field goal, and Wasilla received a free two points when the Knights launched a snap out of the end zone when trying to punt from deep in their own territory.

Colony took the 20-5 lead at the tail end of the first half when Jaronik connected with Michaelson on an 11-yard strike. But arguably the biggest play of the game came when McGraw recovered a fumble on the opening kickoff of the second half.

“(The ball carrier) started on the far side and came across. Someone swatted at him as he ran by and he fumbled,” McGraw said. “And it bounced right into my arms.”

Colony quickly cashed in on the turnover, pushing its lead to 27-5 with Jaronik’s second touchdown run of the game.

“Right as the second half opens, to be able to do that and get the touchdown three plays later, that really was a big momentum builder for us,” McGraw said.

Wasilla tested the tough Colony defense, which had allowed a mere seven points a game entering the contest.

Wasilla followed the Jaronik touchdown with a long kick return to midfield on the ensuing kickoff. And senior Tony Lapiz gave Wasilla its first touchdown of the game with a 4-yard touchdown run just three minutes later.

Late in the third quarter, Nelson and the Warriors pulled a beauty out of their bag of tricks and scored on a Chris Bydlon 42-yard touchdown off the double pass.

Sitting near midfield, Wasilla freshman quarterback Ben Fielder flipped the ball out to senior wide receiver Cody Pfeifer, who sent a tight spiral down the field to a wide-open Bydlon.

The senior running back ran untouched into the end zone.

“That’s a play we worked on all week with those guys,” Nelson said.

Wasilla managed to move the ball in the second half, and put 14 points on the board — positives for the Warrior program.

“We felt pretty good. If you look at Colony and their defense, we scored more points on them than any team they played this year,” Nelson said of the Knights, who had allowed double digits in points just once this season.

But overall, the difference proved to be the turnovers.

“They definitely played a major factor,” McGraw said.

And the Knights also put together another big fourth quarter, just as Colony had done in previous wins over Palmer and Soldotna.

“The thing that stands out more than anything, and I’ve said this all year long, is the kids don’t quit,” Colony head coach Jamie Mayo said. “They know they didn’t play their best half in the first half, they know that we made some mistakes in the second half, but they stayed focused and kept on playing.”

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

Colony 44, Wasilla 19

Friday, Colony High School

First Quarter

Colony — Jaronik 9 run (kick blocked) 8:08

Colony — Rench 8 run (Weihs kick) 4:07

Second Quarter

Wasilla — Sliwa 31 field goal, 11:55.

Wasilla — Safety, ball snapped out of end zone, 9:57.

Colony — Michaelson 11 pass from Jaronik (Weihs kick) 1:42

Third Quarter

Colony — Jaronik 3 run (Weihs kick), 11:06.

Wasilla — Lapiz 4 run (Silwa kick), 8:08.

Colony — Weihs 30 field goal, 4:20

Wasilla — Bydlon 42 pass from Pfeifer (Silwa kick), 3:20.

Fourth Quarter

Colony — Fan 11 pass from Jaronik (Weihs kick), 11:04.

Colony — DePriest 17 pass from Jaronik (Weihs kick), 10:06.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Colony: Jaronik 17-104, McGraw 9-73, Jimanez 17-52, Rench 3-19, Lowery 3-18, Jones 3-8, Smith 1-5, Slater 2-(-3). Wasilla: Chafin 9-30, Welton 3-16, Polis 5-8, Lapiz 3-7, Bydlon 1-4, Marshall 1-2, Hall 2-0, Fielder 2-(-19).

PASSING — Colony: Jaronik 8-15-0-108. Slater 0-1-0-0. Wasilla: Fielder 4-9-0-52. Pfeifer 1-1-0-42.

RECEIVING — Colony: Michaelson 3-52, DePriest 1-17, Summers 1-11, Fan 1-11, Jimanez 1-4, McGraw 1-3. Wasilla: Pfeifer 2-26, Bydlon 1-42, Taylor 1-15, Griffiths 1-11.