Knights, Warriors set for second meeting of the prep football season

There’s one thing I can safely say about sports in 2020. Everything is different. And that includes high school sports in the Mat-Su Valley.

In the Valley, we have mandatory masks, restricted attendance and no competition outside the district for at least the first two months of the prep sports calendar. In a sport like football, we have seen a few firsts. Houston played Palmer at the varsity level for the first time in school history. Fans will get another first Friday night. Colony and Wasilla will play a second varsity football game in the same season for the first time. Wasilla hosts Colony Friday at 6 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Field.

Earlier this year, Colony scored a 44-7 win over the Warriors. As I walked off the field that night, I thought about something longtime Palmer head coach Rod Christiansen used to tell me. Paraphrasing Coach C, he would say, when you go back and look at the tape, it’s not always as good as you thought it was, and it’s not always as bad as you thought it was.

While Colony undoubtedly earned that win, the score doesn’t tell the true story of that game on Aug. 28. The Knights scored 27 points during the final eight minutes of regulation.

“That was a tough ball game, 17-7 is a tough ball game,” Colony head coach Robbie Nash told me after the win.

Colony held a 10-point lead twice during the final three quarters, 10-0 and 17-7.

Colony quarterback Ben Alley threw and ran for touchdowns during his team’s late surge. Camryn Binning returned a fumble 54 yards for a score, which turned out to be the backbreaking play of the night. The Knights also tacked on a late Ethan Kraus score.

That night, Nash said it’s tough playing a team twice. Nash and the Knights know as well as anyone how the second meaning can turn out to be far different than the first. In 2019, East Anchorage beat Colony 44-16 during the opening week of the season. Colony also drew the T-Birds, the Division I top seed during the first round of state playoffs, and the Knights upset East 28-27.

“East put a thumping on us at the beginning of the season. We played them again and we were a different team,” Nash said.

Colony is now 3-0 after a 27-7 win over Palmer last week. Senior Aidan Ehmann enjoyed a huge night for the Knights with more than 215 yards rushing and three scores.

Wasilla is 3-1, and riding a two-game winning streak. Wasilla head coach Ken Ottinger said the Warriors are looking forward to the second chance against the Knights.

“We get another shot at Colony. Those games are always fun games,” Ottinger said.

Ottinger also said he felt the score of the first match didn’t accurately tell the story of the game.

“We were there until the fourth quarter. We made some adjustments and we’re excited to get another chance at them,” Ottinger said. “That’s another blessing about the COVID year, we’re going to be two shots at them.”

Wasilla improved to 3-1 with a 40-0 win over Houston. The Hawks dropped to 1-3 with the loss. Houston beat its chief rival Redington 35-14 early in the season, but has suffered a loss to Division II Palmer and two losses to Division I Wasilla. As the two Division III programs in the Valley, Houston and Redington have been in an obvious disadvantage during the pandemic season with a schedule currently restricted to only competition within the district. The difference between the Hawks and their DI and DII foes has been the second half. Ottinger and Palmer head coach Tim Popowski both praised the Hawks, the defending Division III state champions, after games against Houston.

“I have nothing but the most respect for that Houston team. That’s what it comes down to. Small schools don’t have the depth, and they just got tired,” Ottinger said of the Hawks. “If they had more depth, they would terrorize some of these schools. They’re not scared. They’ll face up with anybody and go at it.”

Houston hosts Palmer Friday at 6 p.m.

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