Knights knock off defending champs

ANCHORAGE — The Colony Knights defeated the East Anchorage Thunderbirds 28-27 in a stunning victory over the defending state champions on Saturday at East Anchorage High School.

The T-Birds had ended the Knights’ season in 2018 with a 34-13 victory in the state semifinals en route to last year’s championship and then started the 2019 season right where they left off with a 44-16 win over Colony in the first week of the high school football season. The T-Birds had been previously undefeated in the state of Alaska during the 2019 football season, but that all came to an end on Saturday.

With win, Colony moves forward and will face Service in the semifinals.

The T-Birds came out guns-a-blazing. Ja’Sem Atonio, part of the T-Birds’ two-quarterback system, hit Jordan Holland for a 56-yard strike down the middle of the field. Kalani Mederios scored from 17 yards out just two plays later, and East had taken 62 seconds to draw first blood. The game on Friday would not be a rerun of past performances.

The Knights made changes midway through the season, finding Ryan Murphy as the starting quarterback and repositioning players around him in the backfield. Senior Michael Bradley was moved from his wideout position to running back, and the switch paid off. Bradley bore the bulk of the load for the Colony offense, punishing the middle of the East defense by lowering his shoulder and skirting defenders when taking the ball toward the sidelines. Bradley scored the Knights’ first 14 points by himself. Bradley scored a rushing touchdown in each of the first two quarters and kicked the extra points to keep the Knights in the game, trailing the T-Birds only 21-14 at halftime.

“He’s a very resilient kid, super athletic, if you get him in open space he’s dangerous and I think all the teams know that you can’t leave him alone. But when we changed him to running back, him coupled with Ridge both getting 20-30 touches, it really helps our offense,” Knights head coach Robbie Nash said.

Bradley led all rushers with 179 yards on 24 carries, along with playing defensive back, and kicking kickoffs, punts, and extra points. East had golden opportunities negated in the red zone. The T-Birds had an apparent touchdown that was called back due to aiding the runner. The drive ended when T-Birds quarterback Gavin Oakley was intercepted by Dominic Freeman. The T-Birds were fooled on the first Colony offensive drive of the second half when Bradley faked the punt and hurried up the sideline, punishing an East defender as he made it across the first down yardage.

“The kids a monster,” quarterback Ryan Murphy said of Bradley.

After Bradley dominated the first half, Murphy took over in the second half. Set up by a Xander Freeman stretch that was just short of the end zone, Murphy punched in the one-yard touchdown to tie the game early in the 4th quarter. The Thunderbirds were putting together a lengthy drive on their ensuing possession but were forced to punt after suffering penalties. The Knights were helped by offsides penalties committed by the T-Birds on crucial third down plays, keeping their game winning drive alive. After Bradley busted into the red zone, Murphy sealed the game. With just over a minute to play, Murphy stepped to the line to snap the ball. The Knights faked an outside run play they had utilized heavily throughout the game, but something was missing. While the T-Birds defenders focused on Bradley on the right side of the field, Murphy was sneaking away from the defense on the left side of the field with the ball behind his hip. Murphy had one thought on his mind when the playcall came into the huddle for his bootleg.

“I’m going to score,” Murphy said. “We did it earlier in the game, like late 2nd quarter and I knew like late in the 4th they were going to be tired and I knew I could get around the edge and score.”

Murphy dove for the pylon and scored, leaving East little time to respond. But like any great champ, the T-Birds would not go down without a fight. T-Birds junior quarterback Ja’sem Atonio marched the East offense down the field with just over a minute of clock to work with. Atonio hit senior quarterback Gavin Oakley for a 15 yard gain when Oakley split out as a wide receiver. Atonio then found his favorite target, senior Carilotos Soto. Soto hauled in back to back passes from Atonio, the final grab coming as Soto was diving for the ball in the corner of the end zone with a Knight defensive back all over him. Soto came down with the ball for the touchdown, cutting the Colony lead to just one point with 43.6 seconds remaining. Rather than go for the tie, East elected to give the ball to Oakland Ala, who was stuffed at the 1 yard line by the Colony Defense. After beating the #1 ranked team in the state, the Knights move on to play Service on Friday night in the state semifinals.

“We’re coming,” Murphy said.