Knights, Warriors eager to rebound in playoffs

WASILLA — Both the Colony Knights and Wasilla Warriors enter the postseason following a loss. And both teams spent the week trying to shake off the feelings left over from defeat during the final game of the regular season.

For the Colony Knights, it’s frustration.

And Wasilla, it’s heartbreak.

Colony was forced to settle for runner-up in the Railbelt and the No. 2 seed in the Division I postseason after falling at Chugiak 44-25.

“I’m hoping we learn from this,” Colony head coach Rhett Magner said after the loss to Chugiak, his team’s first of the season. “If not, we have a problem.”

Colony hosts West Anchorage, the No. 3 team from the Cook Inlet Conference, Friday at 7 p.m. in the Division I quarterfinals at Colony High School. It’s the second straight year that the Knights will host the Eagles in the first round. West slipped past Colony 28-21 last season.

Following the loss at Chugiak, Magner said he expects to see a difference in the playoffs.

“We made some uncharacteristic mistakes, especially on defense,” Magner said of the loss to the Mustangs. “I don’t foresee that happening again. I didn’t think it would happen tonight, but it did. Better happen tonight than down the road.”

Magner said his players have the ability to rebound in them.

“Defensively, we’ll bounce back. Offensively, we’ll bounce back. We’ll fix the mistakes,” Magner said.

The quarterfinal match is not only a rematch of a postseason game last year, but the two teams also met during the fourth week of the 2017 season. Colony made the trip to Anchorage and drilled West 46-15 at West High.

West finished 4-4 overall and 3-2 in the CIC during the regular season.

While Colony is trying to shake the frustration, Wasilla is working to overcome a heartbreaking 27-26 loss to rival Wasilla in the annual Potato Bowl.

“Palmer was a tough one for us,” Wasilla head coach Will Stout said of the loss to the Moose earlier this week.

The Warriors led 20-6 in the fourth quarter. After Palmer rallied to tie the score at 20, Wasilla struck first in overtime with Aeron Milliron’s 13-yard touchdown pass to freshman Bison Malave. Palmer was able to block the extra point. The Moose followed with a touchdown pass of their own during the extra period, and hit the extra point to clinch the victory.

The Warriors did some different things on offense, spreading the defense out with four- and five-receiver sets, and Milliron accounted for about 250 yards of total offense. The senior quarterback threw for 150 yards and three scores and added 94 yards on the ground.

Stout said the Warriors certainly had some success with the new formations, but would have liked to have seen more from the running game.

“I don’t feel like we ran the ball as effectively as we should have,” Stout said.

The Warriors, the fourth seed from the Railbelt, now look ahead to its match against Cook Inlet Conference champion East Anchorage Saturday at 3 p.m. at East.

“The kids are excited, ready for East,” Stout said. “East is very tough. We know it’s going to be a tough game. The kids are ready to play.”

East (7-1, 4-0) has won seven straight, following a 20-6 loss to Chugiak during the opening week of the regular season.

Colony, West, East and Wasilla share the same side of the Division I three-round bracket. The other first-round matchups feature Railbelt champion Chugiak hosting Service Friday at 7 p.m. and CIC runner-up Bartlett hosting Lathrop, the third seed from the Railbelt.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.