Moose amass more than 400 yards rushing in win over rival

PALMER — An undefeated Palmer High squad didn’t have to travel far Friday to continue its ground-and-pound domination of the Railbelt Conference.

The Moose (5-0, 3-0) churned out 442 total yards of offense in a lopsided 41-14 road win over crosstown rival Colony (3-2, 1-2), including 424 yards rushing, led by the one-two knockout combination of James Nisbett — ground — and Luke Heun — pound.

Nisbett, a junior, dominated between the tackles, running for 211 yards and five touchdowns. When Nisbett wasn’t blasting through the middle of the Colony defense, Heun was making the most of a 150-yard effort on his birthday.

Most of Nisbett’s yards were hard-fought, said Palmer head coach Rod Christiansen.

“He just showed a toughness, determination and desire to get it done tonight,” he said. “They weren’t easy yards. They weren’t easy early, they weren’t easy late. He played a lot of great defense, too.”

The game featured two of the Railbelt’s top teams, with the Moose tied for the conference lead with North Pole (5-0, 3-0), and the Knights a game back before Friday’s loss. After a fast 3-0 start to the season, Colony has dropped its last two games to conference opponents, Friday’s loss to Palmer and a 21-20 squeaker to Juneau-Douglas Aug. 31.

Colony also gave a packed homecoming crowd a contrasting style featuring an aerial attack that saw senior quarterback Rob Lorentz throw for 245 yards. But like the week before against Juneau-Douglas, a few small mistakes snowballed to cost the Knights against Palmer, head coach Brian McIntosh said.

“We knew their running game was top-notch and we found out right here how top-notch it is,” he said. “They’re just such a disciplined team and they play fundamental football and have great coaching and great players.”

Trailing 20-0 with time running out in the second quarter, the Knights finally got on the scoreboard on a 7-yard Lorentz strike to junior receiver Daniel Bilafer to trail 20-7 at halftime. That touchdown, McIntosh said, pumped Colony up and carried over to the first drive of the third quarter.

That’s where the wheels came off, he said.

The Knights took the third-quarter kickoff and quickly drove the length of the field to inside the Palmer 10-yard line, highlighted by a 53-yard strike to Bilafer down the sideline to set up a 1st-and-goal at the 5. Colony lost three yards on first down, gained those three back on second down and Lorentz threw incomplete on third down. Looking to put some points on the board, McIntosh sent his field goal unit out. But the snap was bobbled and the Knights turned the ball over on downs.

“When we scored at the end of the half, then we came back and got the ball and drove all the way down there and we didn’t get anything,” McIntosh said. “You’ve got to convert on those against great teams.”

That helped deflate Colony’s momentum for the rest of the game, McIntosh said.

Instead, the Moose took that turnover and drove 88 yards in 11 plays to extend their lead to 26-7.

“I thought defensively, some of the players stepped up there and there were some great hits tonight, and our passing game really came back,” McIntosh said about the positives Colony can take from the game. “It just didn’t translate, but I thought we moved the ball a lot better.”

The Knights had a chance to change the tempo earlier in the game as well. Trailing 12-0 in the second quarter, Lorentz threw and ran his way down the field and threatened to score, but a pass into the end zone was tipped and intercepted by Palmer’s Cody Wells.

Overall, Christiansen said he was pleased to see a full four quarters of effort from his team, adding that getting up to play Colony isn’t difficult.

“There was great intensity out there,” he said. “Both sides wanted to get after each other. You know, just like a lot of our games, we made plays when we had to defensively on the goal line. It could’ve been a lot different game (otherwise), but the guys really made some plays.”

Palmer set the tone early, taking the opening kickoff and methodically driving 59 yards in nine plays, capped by a 3-yard Nisbett touchdown run to lead 6-0.

Colony would answer with a long drive of its own, holding the ball for nearly five minutes and 14 plays before finally turning the ball over on towns at the Palmer 25.

But the Moose picked up where they left off on their first drive, and Nisbett found the end zone again from 21 yards out to cap an 11-play drive and put Palmer ahead 12-0.

The Knights again tried to answer on their next possession, highlighted by a 51-yard catch and run by Antonio Bush. Four plays later, a Lorentz pass to a wide-open receiver in the end zone was dropped, and two plays after that Wells stopped the drive with his interception in the end zone.

Nisbett would score his third touchdown of the half on a 27-yard run on the ensuing drive, and with the 2-point conversion, Palmer led 20-0. Before the halftime break, the Moose nearly broke the game open when junior running back Vincent Aumavae juked his way through the Colony defense for a 47-yard touchdown that was called back on a personal foul.

“I think we have to continue to work on being better on a lot of the little things, like that long run that was called back,” Christiansen said. “You know, we were being aggressive blocking, but (at the time the foul happened) it was time to stop.”

The rest of the game was more Palmer ground-and-pound. Heun would put the Moose up 26-7 with a 3-yard run in the third quarter. In the fourth, Nisbett would score on runs of 25 and 5 yards to round out a 41-7 lead.

Led by Bryce Niver, who spelled Lorentz, Colony found the end zone again with 2:01 to play for the 41-14 final.

Palmer’s win sets up a showdown of the Railbelt’s two undefeated teams — the Moose and North Pole — Friday, a 7 p.m. kickoff at North Pole.

“The conference goes through North Pole,” Christiansen said.

Contact reporter Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.

Palmer 41, Colony 14

Friday, Colony High School

First quarter:

Palmer — Nisbett 3 run (kick failed) 7:13

Second quarter:

Palmer — Nisbett 21 run (run failed) 9:45

Palmer — Nisbett 27 run (Myers pass from Christiansen) 4:11

Colony — Bilafer 7 from Lorentz (Bilafer kick) 0:25

Third quarter:

Palmer — Heun 3 run (pass failed) 3:55

Fourth quarter:

Palmer — Nisbett 25 run (Niekamp pass from Christiansen) 11:56

Palmer — Nisbett 5 run (Kahler kick) 4:19

Colony — Niver 35 run (Bilafer kick) 2:01

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing — Palmer: Nisbett 28-211, Heun 12-150, Merritt 6-29, V. Aumavae 3-25, B. Aumavae 2-5, Christiansen 2-4; Colony: Niver 6-46, Summers 5-17, Peltier 6-14, Lorentz 6-(-18).

Passing — Palmer: Christiansen 3-4-18; Colony: Lorentz 20-34-245, Niver 0-3-0.

Receiving — Palmer: Myers 1-20, Nisbett 2-(-2); Colony: Bilafer 9-129, Bush 9-105, Hall 1-9, Root 1-2.