Knights rally to beat West Valley

PALMER — Colony tried to give West Valley a walk into cementing the fourth and final Railbelt playoff spot, but in the end it was a gift from the Wolfpack that sealed a 23-19 win for the Knights.

With many areas of the Mat-Su Borough facing evacuations and flood warnings, it was the Colony offense that spent most of the first half bailing out West Valley, turning the ball over four times inside the red zone, including a pair of fumbles, an interception and a missed chip-shot field goal.

West Valley capitalized early on those Colony mistakes, pulling to a 13-0 halftime lead. The Wolfpack couldn’t do anything with Colony’s first fumble, which came just inside the 20 on their first drive of the game, but turned in the play of the game after knocking the ball loose as the Knights were knocking on the door again at the West Valley 10.

A 3-yard loss on first down set up a 93-yard touchdown strike from senior quarterback Tucker Plass, who found Charles Sudduth breaking free down the middle of the field behind the Colony defense to start the second quarter.

Leading 6-0, West Valley found the scoreboard again late in the half when senior running back Dominick Anderson broke over the goal line from 5 yards out to lead 13-0.

It was Colony’s defense that kept the Knights in the game in that first half, head coach Brian McIntosh said.

“The kids played hard and the defense kept us in the game,” he said. “At this point in the season, you can’t be making the mistakes we were making on offense, like turning the ball over and not executing overall well. The first time we turned the ball over, I was like, we’ll, that’s going to happen. But then it continued to happen. It was too many to win a game like this, but they played hard and overcame that adversity.”

The second half started just as well for West Valley when Colony fumbled on their second play — the fourth turnover of the game. But the Wolfpack couldn’t capitalize.

Fischer Summers finally put the Knights on the scoreboard with about 8:30 left in the third quarter on an 11-yard run to cut West Valley’s lead to 13-7. On their next drive, the Knights would take over the pace of the game, grinding out a 17-play drive that ended in a 9-yard Wyatt Peltier touchdown run. The Wolfpack blocked the extra point try and the teams were even at 13.

That long, methodical drive was crucial for Colony, McIntosh said, adding the Knights also used more of an option style of offense on Friday. Ball control is what allowed Colony to score 23 straight points while being out-gained 397 yards to 316 yards overall on offense.

“That’s always been in our playbook, but we didn’t know what was going to go on (with the weather), so we were ready to run the ball a little bit more,” McIntosh said.

Tied and with time getting short, West Valley gave the Knights the only turnover they’d need when junior Tyler Harvey stripped Plass on a quarterback keeper along the home sideline. Austin Rench scooped up the ball and sprinted 76 yards for the go-ahead touchdown.

“Austin’s a stone cold stud, that’s what I have to say about that,” McIntosh said, adding that “I didn’t know he was that fast. First, Tyler Harvey made the hit that forced the ball out, and it just came shooting out right at the perfect angle.”

When Rench saw the ball loose near the sideline, his only thought was on scooping up the ball and scoring.

“I just knew I had to pick it up and make a play for the team,” he said. “So, I just went out and scored on it. I ran as fast as I could. I saw the ball and I saw touchdown.”

It was his first defensive touchdown, and Rench admitted that after crossing the goal line, “I didn’t want to give the ball up.”

Daniel Bilafer would round out the scoring for Colony on its next drive with a 30-yard field goal and give the Knights a 23-13 lead with just more than two minutes remaining.

West Valley ended the game with a 10-play, 54-yard drive that saw Plass hit Lorenzo Graham for a 3-yard touchdown pass as time ran out.

The win sets up a scenario where Colony controls its playoff picture. The simple formula is if the Knights win on the road at North Pole Friday, they clinch a Railbelt Conference playoff berth.

Colony 23, West Valley 19

Friday, Colony High School

First quarter:

No scoring

Second quarter:

West Valley — Sudduth 93 pass from Plass (kick no good) 11:43

West Valley — Anderson 5 run (Jeffries kick) 1:50

Third quarter:

Colony — Summers 11 run (Bilafer kick) 8:29

Fourth quarter:

Colony — Peltier 9 run (kick blocked) 11:55

Colony — Rench 76 fumble return (Bilafer kick) 8:40

Colony — Bilafer 30 field goal 2:25

West Valley — Graham 3 pass from Plass (2-point fail) 0:00

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing — Colony: Peltier 13-59, Lorentz 8-40, Summers 5-24, Niver 3-5; West Valley: Graham 18-101, Cummings 10-45, Anderson 7-24, Jeffries 1-5.

Passing — Colony: Lorentz 18-26-1—228; West Valley: Plass: 12-26-0—227.

Receiving — Colony: Bush 7-106, Bilafer 6-81, Hall 4-38, Campbell 1-3; West Valley: Sudduth 5-129, Graham 6-88, Jeffries 1-10.