Knights set tone for season

JEREMIAH BARTZ/ Frontiersman sports editor

PALMER - Following his team's 34-6 rout of the North Pole Patriots Saturday, Colony head coach Jamie Mayo said historically the kickoff team has set the tone for the entire Knight

squad.

History does not lie, but it does repeat itself.

On the game's opening kickoff Colony senior Austin Manelick sprinted down the Colony High School field and jumped on Patriot return man Todd McCormick as the North Pole sophomore bobbled the ball near the goal line. McCormick was able to fall on the ball, just before a gang of white and green jerseys fell on McCormick.

"Even though the guy mishandled it, our kids flew down there and were ready to jump on them," Mayo said. "They're there banging in there, and knocking people around. Then the defense generally responds. And whatever the defense does, the offense responds."

Colony pinned North Pole on its own 4-yard line, and two plays later Knight senior Tim Egger recovered a Patriot fumble. The Colony offense needed just three plays to score, and take a 7-0 lead. Colony continued to roll right over the defending 4A state champions, and snap North Pole's 11-game winning streak.

The kickoff coverage set the tone for the game, and the win over North Pole may set the tone for Colony's 2005 season. Colony finished among the state's four best teams last year, but like North Pole, the Knights were decimated by graduation. A combined 32 Colony and North Pole players have graduated since the last time these two teams met - a 58-20 Patriot win that gave North Pole the 2004 Railbelt Conference title.

Colony is using a host of players, who saw at least some playing time at the varsity level last season, to fill the holes left by graduation. Mayo said the win was crucial to the development of the confidence of his younger players.

"I can't even measure it. The amount of confidence that this win is going to give these guys is immeasurable," Mayo said. "My only concern is these kids get a little too big-headed, maybe, and they start to look past who ever we

play."

With just six league games, and the Railbelt producing the toughest crop of teams in the conference's history, a week two Colony-North Pole matchup is proving to be just as crucial as the outcome of a game on the final day of the regular season.

Colony hosts West Valley, a team that was winless in conference action last season, on Friday, and has a nonconference date at Homer before Railbelt road games against Juneau-Douglas and Palmer. The final two Colony conference games, against Wasilla and Lathrop, are at CHS - something that could prove to be key for Colony.

Colony, West Valley and Juneau each won their conference openers, and sit at the top with a 1-0 record. Juneau-Douglas, who made its Railbelt Conference debut with a 50-25 win over Lathrop on Saturday, has been among the state's best for the last several years and will undoubtedly be a Railbelt power.

"You have to finger Juneau as the team at the top," Palmer head coach Rod Christiansen said, prior to the season.

Juneau is North Pole's opponent this weekend, and the Patriots don't want to be looking at an early 0-2 conference record.

Wasilla dropped its conference opener, a 21-14 loss to West Valley. Palmer starts its Railbelt schedule, hosting Lathrop on Saturday.