Knights score big win over PHS

PALMER — This just in — there’s no clear No. 1 in the Railbelt Conference.

A week after Palmer stunned the defending conference and state champion Juneau-Dougals Crimson Bears, it was the Moose who stood — stunned.

Colony scored 20 points in the second half to post a 27-6 win over Palmer at Colony High School on Friday.

Colony senior quarterback Collin Murphy rushed for two touchdowns and threw for two scores as the Knights improved to 3-2 overall and 2-1 in conference play.

Murphy led a Colony offense that amassed more than 400 yards of total offense — nearly 300 on the ground and another 128 through the air.

“Our offense was phenomenal,” Colony head coach Jamie Mayo said.

Murphy led the Knights with a game-high 127 yards rushing and fellow senior Gino Paoletti added 97 yards on 12 carries.

Murphy, a double threat out of Colony’s shotgun set, plunged into the end zone from 1-yard out to give the Knights the early 7-0 lead. He connected with wide receiver Tim Jaronik and running back Chris Kreig on touchdown tosses in the second half, and capped the scoring with a 26-yard scamper in the fourth quarter.

“As long as we don’t turn the ball over I think we’re pretty tough to stop offensively,” Murphy said.

Palmer junior fullback Coleman Ahrens supplied much of the offense for the Moose, rumbling for 108 yards on 16 carries.

“That kid runs the ball hard,” Mayo said of Ahrens. “We knew that they’re fullback trap was going to cause us problems, and it did. They run that one play about as good as I’ve seen a team run that one play in a long time.”

Ahrens gained the bulk of his yardage in the first half — 103 yards in the first two quarters — but the Palmer junior was not alone.

The Colony defense held the Moose to just 81 yards in the second half, and 60 of those yards came on a Johnny Daly touchdown, Palmer’s lone score.

Mayo attributed the success to preparation and execution.

“All those scout players, they’re the reason why we did as well as we did,” Mayo said, referring to the reserves who ran the Palmer offense during practice to help the Knights prepare for the all-Valley showdown. “This week our scout did was fantastic.”

Injuries also continued to hurt the Moose. Sophomore Jim McCall, a two-way starter, suffered a foot injury before the game, and seven minutes into action, senior defensive lineman John Church was injured during a play near the Colony sideline and left the field in an ambulance after a 35-minute delay.

During the fourth quarter, game officials announced Church had been released from Mat-Su Regional Medical Center.

Late in the first quarter, Ahrens and Palmer senior lineman David Zoerb both went down on the same play – a 17-yard Ahrens run — but both returned to action.

Palmer was also missing senior standout Mitch Swetzof, who was lost due to injury during the win over Juneau.

Next week the Knights travel to Wasilla to face the Warriors and the Moose host small-schools state runner-up Kodiak.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.

Colony 27, Palmer 6

Friday, Colony High School

First quarter

Colony — Murphy 1 run (T. Jaronik kick) 3:26.

Third quarter

Colony — T. Jaronik 15 pass from Murphy (T. Jaronik kick) 6:43.

Colony — Kreig 27 pass from Murphy (T. Jaronik kick) 0:00.

Fourth quarter

Palmer — Daly 60 run (kick failed) 11:19.

Colony — Murphy 26 run (kick failed) 5:48.

Individual statistics

RUSHING — Palmer: Ahrens 16-108, Bohman 18-52, Daly 6-63, Silva 2-9; Colony: Murphy 16-127, Paoletti 12-97, Kreig 8-34, M. Jaronik 3-27, Jiminez 2-16, Slater 2-0.

PASSING — Palmer: Silva 1-3-0—1; Colony: Murphy 10-14-0—128.

RECEIVING — Palmer: Bohman 1-1; Colony: T. Jaronik 4-53, M. Jaronik 4-39, Krieg 1-27, Swan 1-9.