Knights, Crimson Bears play for title

PALMER — If any of the 15 football programs of Alaska’s large-school class can claim home field advantage, it’s the Juneau-Douglas Crimson Bears.

Juneau sports one of the strongest programs of the last decade, with six straight appearances in the 4A semifinals and four trips to the title game in the last six seasons.

Juneau is notorious for its “spirited” fans.

And opponents have to take a plane just to get there.

But if any team can overcome those obstacles and beat the Bears on their own turf, Colony head coach Jamie Mayo believes it’s the 2009 Knights.

Mayo’s Knights will have the chance tonight when Juneau-Douglas hosts Colony at 8 p.m. in a game that will decide the Railbelt Conference champion.

“This is a pretty unique group,” Mayo said Thursday afternoon. “They don’t give up. The don’t quit. I think they’ve got the attitude we’re very capable of going down there and winning this game.”

With a win, the Knights would capture that conference crown, earn a top seed in the playoffs and finish the regular season with a perfect 8-0 mark.

A Juneau victory would leave both the Knights and the Bears with identical 5-1 conference marks. Juneau would earn the conference crown, thanks to a head-to-head tiebreaker, and the top seed in the tourney.

While Colony, the No. 2 team in the large-school class according to the Alaska Sports Broadcasting Network Poll, has remained undefeated, Juneau suffered their first loss in conference play two weeks ago when North Pole topped the Bears 24-16.

Otherwise, Juneau has put together a collection of lopsided wins.

Juneau scored 40 points or more during shutout wins over West Valley and Wasilla. The Bears ran through Palmer en route to a 36-7 win in the Capital City, and thrashed Lathrop 69-6 last week.

The Bears boast a rushing game that includes the state’s fifth leading rusher, Matthew Maka, and one of Alaska’s top quarterbacks, Phillip Fenumiai.

Maka has 734 yards and nine touchdowns on the ground. Fenumiai, who’s just a freshman, has thrown for 1,000 yards and 14 touchdowns.

“We’ve watched quite a bit of film, they’ve got some quality running backs,” Mayo said. “Matthew Maka, he ran for (301 yards) against Palmer, and that wasn’t by accident. He had some good holes and did a lot of good things.”

The Bears’ running arsenal also includes senior fullback Jack Perkins, junior running back Justin Brooks and senior Silver Maake, who was a first-team all-state running back as a sophomore.

A key for the Knights will be the play of their defense against that running game, Colony’s front-eight in particular.

Colony has used it’s 3-5 formation, a small, but quick set of three down linemen and five linebackers, to limit conference opponents to an average of nine points per game.

“That’s going to be big question,” Mayo said. “Is our quickness gong to be able to help us our hurt us? Their backs are pretty skilled, with real good speed. We’ve got to get them before they get to their top speed. Once they get to that top speed, they’re pretty tough to bring down.”

While Juneau has its share of weapons, the Knights also boast offensive threats in both the passing and running game.

Senior quarterback Matt Jaronik has more than 1,000 yards of combined offense through the first seven games. He leads the Knights with 481 yards and four touchdowns on the ground. Jaronik has also completed 44-of-91 passes for 669 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Six different Knights have caught Jaronik touchdown passes. Senior Eric Fan leads Colony with four catches for scores.

Senior Tyler Jimanez is also among leading Colony rushers with 311 yards and four touchdowns.

The Knights have had success on offense, but Mayo said Colony still can improve, and the first step would be reducing the number of penalties.

“We’ve looked at the penalties we’ve made throughout the year, and the majority are while we’re on offense,” Mayo said. “They’re not really bad penalties, but little things that can stop or slow a drive down.”

The Knights will not know who they during the first round of the playoffs until late Saturday. But the Knights do know they’ll host a first-round game Oct. 2 at 7 p.m. at Colony High School.

Colony will play either Chugiak or Bartlett in the first round. The Mustangs and the Golden Bears meet Saturday afternoon to determine the third and fourth seeds from the Cook Inlet Conference.

With a win tonight, Colony would host the fourth seed from the CIC. With a loss, the CIC’s No. 3 team will make the trip to CHS next week.

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