Knights eager to bounce back; Warriors and Hawks look for wins on the road

PALMER — Tonight the Colony Knights will step onto the field for their third nonconference game in four weeks. But after a rough 0-3 start, Colony is hoping to grab some momentum before finishing its regular season with three Railbelt Conference games during its final four contests.

Colony started the season with 2012 large-schools runner up Service and defending medium-schools state champion Soldotna during the first two weeks. Last week, Colony was tagged with its third defeat, a 35-26 loss to Wasilla.

Tonight, it’s another test. Former Railbelt rival Juneau-Douglas is in town for the 7 p.m. kickoff.

“We played some of the top teams in the state. We battled adversity,” Colony head coach Brian McIntosh said Wednesday evening.

Despite the losing streak, the Knights have still managed to score nearly 24 points per game. Colony has one of the top quarterbacks, statistically, in the state, and two of the top receivers.

But the difference between maybe a 2-1 team and an 0-3 team has been the rough third quarter that has haunted McIntosh and the Knights in each of the last two weeks.

“For some reason the third quarter has been our Achilles heel,” McIntosh said.

In Week 2, Colony led Soldotna 24-14. But the Stars scored three times in the third, and 33 unanswered points total, to take the 47-24 win. Last week, Colony led 20-7 early in the third quarter, but Wasilla erupted for 28 second-half points.

“We need to clean up the mental mistakes. We are shooting ourselves in the foot,” McIntosh said.

McIntosh said he was happy to see the Knights put together a scoring drive in the fourth quarter. Logan Conway capped his career night with a 9-yard touchdown run.

“That was a step in the right direction,” McIntosh said.

The emergence of Conway and the Colony ground game is one of the things that impressed McIntosh. Conway, who had a combined 65 yards during the first two weeks, finished with 142 yards on 21 carries.

“He ran the ball hard,” McIntosh said of Conway.

Conway’s work combined with the continued impact of Colony’s passing game. Senior Bryce Niver is among state leaders with 528 yards and eight touchdown passes. Senior receivers Daniel Bilafer (19 catches, 232 yards, three touchdowns) and Antonio Bush (13 catches, 168 yards, five touchdowns) are also among state leaders.

Juneau-Douglas, now a member of the medium-schools Southeast Conference, beat former Railbelt rival North Pole 55-20 last week. Demetrius Campos scored four times to help the Bears improve to 3-0.

Wasilla at Lathrop

Wasilla, fresh off its 35-26 win over Colony last week, will find itself in a key Railbelt Conference match when the Warriors hit the field tonight against Lathrop in Fairbanks.

Lathrop (3-0) is also coming off a big conference win. The Malemutes blanked West Valley 27-0 last week. Wasilla, Lathrop and Palmer all sit tied at the top of the Raibelt with 1-0 conference records.

Lathrop, which received its highest ranking ever in the history of the Alaska Sports Broadcasting Network Football Poll with its No. 3 spot on the list, is outscoring opponents 105-6 this season. The Malemutes opened the season with a 27-6 win over Dimond, and followed with a 54-0 drubbing of small-schools Nikiski.

Senior quarterback Robert Tanner threw for 125 yards and two touchdowns during the win over West Valley. He added another score on the ground. Chris Seminario returned the game-opening kickoff 85 yards for a score for the Malemutes.

Wasilla improved to 2-1 overall with come-from-behind win over the Knights last week.

Colony led 20-7 early in the second half, but Wasilla found the end zone four times in the second half. Senior quarterback Josiah Williams tossed a pair of second-half touchdowns and ran for another. His favorite target was senior receiver Isaiah Dawkins, who collected 141 of his game-high 156 receiving yards during the final two quarters.

Dawkins hauled in a 68-yard touchdown catch to provide the go-ahead score in the third quarter.

“We came together as a family. We knew Colony was a big game,” Williams said after the win.

Wasilla, which scored its third win over Colony in its last four meetings at CHS last Friday, plays in its final conference road game of the year.

Wasilla hosts West Valley next week and Palmer in the annual Potato Bowl in Week 8.

Houston at West Valley

Like Colony, Houston will also try to use a nonconference game to get back on track. The Hawks are in Fairbanks tonight to play West Valley at 6 p.m.

After recording back-to-back wins over Seward and Skyview during the first two weeks, the Hawks suffered a 76-28 loss to Houston last week. Despite the lopsided loss, Houston manages to score more points against the Stars than any of Soldotna’s other opponents this season. Senior Waylon Soptick also posted another big night to stay in the hunt for the state’s rushing crown. Soptick rushed for 137 yards and two touchdowns, and now has 694 yards in three games this season.

Kenai senior Jace Daniels leads the state with 790 yards on the ground.

Houston (2-1) will meet a West Valley (0-3) squad still looking for its first win. The Wolfpack have dropped games to Chugiak (17-6), Palmer (21-12) and Lathrop (27-0). Of their three touchdowns this season, two have come during the final minute of play.