Knights hand Malemutes their 20th straight loss

FAIRBANKS — Lathrop suffered its 20th straight loss, but the Malemutes also played perhaps their best football of the season during Friday night’s 31-14 defeat to the Railbelt Conference-leading Colony Knights.

The Malemutes held the Knights scoreless in the second half of the contest at Lathrop High School — a defensive rarity this season for the hosts, who are 0-4 conference and 0-5 overall.

Lathrop quarterback/linebacker Jonah Silva said he and his teammates started slow and didn’t show enough intensity in the first half, where the Knights (3-0, 3-2) jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter and pulled ahead 31-6 before the halftime break.

A positive atmosphere in Lathrop’s lockerroom at halftime carried over to the field in the last two quarters of the night.

“We came together as brothers,” Silva said, “and we talked it out and said we need to be ready for the second half, and that we were still in it.”

Colony quarterback Anthony Bricker passed for 155 yards and a touchdown in the first half. In the second half, he was limited to one completion for seven yards, and with 6:00 left in the third quarter, he saw Malemutes freshman cornerback Chris Seminario intercept his pass in the end zone and return it 62 yards.

Knights senior Skye Rench was a running machine in the first half, amassing 94 yards on 14 carries, including the game’s first two scores on bursts of 13 and 8 yards in the opening quarter. In the second half, the Malemutes held Rench to 23 yards on seven carries.

Bricker said the first half was all mental for Colony and the second half was the same but in a different manner.

“We came out and we said we wouldn’t look past Lathrop, we don’t look past any team,” said the senior, who completed 11 of 21 passes. “We came out hard, we came out enthusiastic and we played with pride. We executed well and we did all our plays well.”

Bricker said he thinks the second half went to Colony’s collective heads, and he took responsibility.

“I have to say we kind of got big heads and most of that is my fault,” said Bricker, who also ran eight times for 113 yards. “I take that responsibility as a quarterback and I wasn’t making my reads the way I was (in the first half).”

Bricker said he didn’t think the Malemutes were different in the second half from the team Colony overpowered in the first half.

“It seemed like the same team, we were just beating ourselves up there (in the second half),” he said.

Lathrop’s upbeat second half Friday could affect the rest of its regular season, which continues with a conference game next Friday at the second-place Juneau-Douglas Crimson Bears.

“It’s a huge effect,” said Silva, who delivered two long touchdowns while completing 11 of 23 passes for 150 yards with one interception.

Said senior tight end Vincent Barnett, “It brings our spirits way up. For how hard it’s been this whole season and the last couple of seasons, for us to come out this close and do so good in this game, it feels great.”

Barnett’s long touchdown reception was uplifting to his teammates and their fans, who had been mostly quiet this season.

Barnett turned a dump pass from Silva in a 60-yard sprint up the middle up the field and into the end zone with 5:48 left in the second quarter.

“Once I caught the ball, I took off. I just put everything into it and I ran for the heavens,” said Barnett, who finished with a night-best five catches for 86 yards.

Silva’s handiwork arose again at the end of the third quarter, when he lined a 40-yard strike to Matt McCoy for the only score of the second half.

Colony’s other first-half scoring included a 19-yard touchdown catch and 25-yard field goal from Connor Weihs, and a 2-yard run by Dakota Wainwright.

Contact staff writer Danny Martin at 459-7586.

Colony 31, Lathrop 14

Friday, Fairbanks

First Quarter

Colony — Rench 13 run (Weihs kick), 9:45.

Colony — Rench 8 run (Weihs kick), 4:52.

Colony — Weihs 19 pass from Bricker (Weihs kick), 1:16.

Second Quarter

Colony — Wainwright 2 run (Weihs kick), 7:43.

Lathrop — Barnett 60 pass from Silva (kick blocked), 5:48.

Colony — Weihs 25 FG, :0.9.

Third Quarter

Lathrop — McCoy 40 pass from Silva (Silva run), 31:14.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING— Colony: Rench 21-117, Bricker 8-113, Wainwright 6-41, Monson 2-11, Cooper 1-4, Wolfe 1-(-1), Mane 1-(-3). Lathrop: Bradford 2-0, Lee 1-(-2), Silva 16-(-30).

PASSING—Colony: Bricker 11-21-1-162, Wolfe 0-0-0-0. Lathrop: Silva 11-23-1-150.

RECEIVING—Colony: Weihs 3-59, DePriest 2-42, Rench 2-29, Wainwright 2-25, McCann 1-7. Lathrop: Barnett 5-86, McCoy 3-53, Lee 2-7, Graham-Taylor 1-4.