Knights ride dark horse to victory

PALMER -- Led by a 228-yard effort from first-year running back Shawn Olivera, the Colony Knights trampled the Soldotna Stars 41-0 in non-conference action at Colony High School on Friday.

The Knights jumped out to a 35-0 lead in the first half.

Olivera had a pair of scoring runs in the first two quarters and Rhett Magner threw a pair of touchdown passes.

Magner found Ben Petru on a 23-yard scoring strike in the first quarter and hit flanker Justin Schwartzbauer on a 24-yard scoring toss in the second quarter.

Olivera sandwiched the Schwartzbauer touchdown grab with scoring runs of 8 and 33 yards.

Jon Stratton, a summer transfer to Colony High School from New Hampshire, also scored in the second

quarter.

One of the Knights' primary concerns in the contest was the play of their offensive line.

The Knights' front five struggled in the season opener against East and was sent a challenge by coaches.

"The line stepped up," Magner said. "They came to practice three hours early and left an hour late this week. They have been working really hard. The coaches were not too pleased."

"They have worked hard," Colony head coach Randy Magner said of his offensive line. "There were a lot of little mistakes, mainly not knowing the system. Much of their work showed."

Magner added that he and his fellow coaches have stressed an emphasis on getting off the ball quickly and exploding, rather than tentative play.

In addition to a running game that churned up more than 300 yards of turf, the Knights show signs of aggressive play in the passing game. Starter Rhett Magner completed 5 of 7 passes for 64 yards and often looked downfield. Both of Magner's touchdown throws were for more than 20 yards.

Backup quarterbacks Clay Gangsted and Tim Egger also saw action in the game, but combined for just two pass attempts.

The Knight defense forced five turnovers while preventing Soldotna from scoring. Rhett Magner, Stratton and Egger each had picks, while nose guard Dominick Bellotte forced a fumble and recovered another.

The Knight front seven also harassed Star signal caller Cameron Schneider throughout the game, recording several sacks in the process.

Bellotte, Josiah Moffit, Caleb Moffit and Steve Buza were among those that got to the quarterback.

Soldotna has now played eight quarters of football this season and is yet to score.

The runner-up in the 2002 3A state championship game has been outscored 92-0 by a pair of Northern Railbelt Conference schools.

North Pole shellacked the Stars 51-0 last week.

The game matched a pair of traditional rivals together. Prior to Soldotna's dive into the small school class, the Stars and the Knights were part of the 4A Northern Lights

Conference.

Colony will face another 3A power and former 4A foe next week. The Knights travel to face the defending small school state champion Kenai Kardinals on the Peninsula next Saturday.