Knights fall to Patriots

The Colony Knights scored 27 second-half points, but still fell a bit short Friday, falling to the North Pole Patriots 36-34 in North Pole.

The Patriots, 6-2 overall and 3-2 in conference play, held a 36-7 lead late in the third quarter.

Colony junior Shawn Olivera sparked the comeback bid returning a kickoff 78 yards for a touchdown with just more than two minutes left in the third quarter..

Five minutes later, Olivera scored on a 21-yard touchdown run to cut the Colony deficit to 36-21.

In the final five minutes of regulation Colony quarterback Rhett Magner threw a pair of touchdown passes to bring the Knights within two points.

Magner found Justin Schwartzbauer on an 11-yard touchdown pass and connected with Billy Collins on a 40-yard touchdown pass 52 seconds later.

The Collins score brought Colony within two. The Knights went for the two-point conversion, but their efforts were stuffed by the North Pole defense.

Colony had a final opportunity to go ahead, driving into North Pole territory in the final moments of the game, but time expired before the Knights were able to punch it in.

Magner led the Knights with 115 yards rushing and 122 yards passing. The junior accounted for three touchdowns, running for one and passing for two.

Olivera also hit the century mark for the Knights, rushing for 100 yards on 14 carries.

Schwartzbauer led Colony with five catches for 64 yards.

The contest finalizes the playoff picture for the Northern Railbelt Conference.

With the win, North Pole visits the NRC second-seed Lathrop Malemutes on Friday at 6 p.m.

Colony (3-5, 2-3) faces cross-town rival Palmer, Friday at 7 p.m. at Machetanz Field. The Knights are the fourth seed in the Railbelt.

Colony faces the Moose for the second time in less than a month. Palmer came from behind to defeat Colony 20-13 at Palmer High in mid-September.

The winner of the Colony-Palmer matchup plays the winner of the Chugiak-East dual, Oct. 11 at Anchorage Football Stadium.

The winner of the North Pole-Lathrop contest, faces the winner of the Juneau-Dimond game, Oct. 10 at AFS.