Prep football: CHS storms through slop

Sept. 24, 2006

By DARRELL L. BREESE/ Frontiersman

WASILLA - All it took for the Colony High School football team to overpower Wasilla on Friday night was the first quarter, when senior running back Chebon Jimenez scored two touchdowns.

The Knights left Veterans Memorial Field with a 35-3 victory against their Railbelt Conference and cross-town rivals.

Jimenez led the charge racking up 206 yards rushing on a field made sloppy by persistent rain, which began falling just before kick off.

The post-game victory celebration was made twice as nice as the Knights heard of Juneau's 24-22 loss to West Valley in Fairbanks

&#8220In a way we got two wins tonight,” Jimenez said, &#8220We beat Wasilla, but also got a big win from the Wolfpack to help us in our bid to win the conference title. It was a good night for the Colony Knights.”

It was a good night for Jimenez also, thanks to his big offensive line.

&#8220My line played great, considering the conditions,” Jimenez said. &#8220I don't know how they were doing it on the muddy field, but they kept opening up holes for me to run through.”

According to Colony coach Jamie Mayo, the secret was baby steps.

&#8220We've got some big boys up front and playing on a muddy field like this could have been difficult,” Mayo said. &#8220They like to take a big power step and close down the space, but you can't do that on a sloppy field. I told them to take short choppy steps.”

Taking short steps was most difficult for Wade Bowen, standing at 6-foot-5, he is not built for taking small steps.

&#8220It was challenging at times for me to keep my leverage,” Bowen said. &#8220I just had to keep reminding myself to stay low, keep chopping my feet and take small steps.”

Running behind the offensive line unaffected by the sloppy field, Jimenez and the Knights put together a 12-play 62-yard drive setting up the opening score.

Jimenez, who accounted for every yard, finished the opening drive with an 11-yard run over the left side of his mammoth offensive line, slipping through a hole and into the end zone.

He wrapped up the first quarter with a 2-yard scoring run with 21 seconds left. The score followed a blocked punt by Colony safety Robin Minoza.

Jimenez had collected 96 yards by the time the whistle blew to end the first quarter. He added 110 additional yards over the next two quarters, before sitting out the fourth.

After rushing for six yards on 4th-and-4, Jimenez served as a decoy while quarterback Teddy Babcock ran a bootleg in from three yards out, giving the Knights a 20-0 lead at the half.

As impressive as Jimenez and the Knights offense was in the first half, its defense was just plain dominant. Limiting the host Warriors to just 14 yards of total offense in the first half, Colony spoiled senior night for Wasilla. By the end of the game, Wasilla managed just 69 yards on offense and seven first downs.

&#8220Everyone keeps talking about our offense, but I think our defense is pretty good,” Mayo said. &#8220They've only given up 53 points in seven games. I'm really proud of that.”

The only points the Knights gave up Friday came on a 35-yard field goal by Wasilla super kicker Vladimir Dahl, late in the third period. The field goal came after fullback Duane Carpenter and tail back Danny Lyles found some room to run against the stingy Colony defense.

Mike Zagars and George Percak-Dennett each caught scoring passes from Babcock in the second half. The scores raised the CHS quarterback's total to 14 touchdown passes, the best in the state.

Also back atop the state leaders is Jimenez. He needed just 35 yards to crack the 1,000 yard mark for the season, and he surpassed that on the first drive. The 206 yards he finished with gives him 1,171 yards and 13 touchdowns. The numbers vaulted him, at least temporarily, past Gregory Bosick of Skyview, who was the state leader with 1,023 yards.

&#8220I don't really think about that too much,” Jimenez said. &#8220As long as the team gets the win, I'm happy.”

But according to Coach Mayo, the Knights offensive line had given the rushing lead some thought.

&#8220They were saying they owed Chebon this week,” Mayo said. &#8220They wanted to get him back on top.”

Contact Darrell L. Breese at 352-2267 or at darrell.breese@frontiersman.com.