Prep football: Colony gets key conference win

Aug. 20, 2006

By DARRELL L. BREESE/ Frontiersman

PALMER - Halfway through the first quarter, the Colony High School Field looked more suited for a mud wrestling event than a football. The rain, heavy at times, didn't stop all night, making for a sloppy game.

When the flying mud finally cleared, the difference was one big play in the Colony passing game, as the Knights earned a 25-13 victory over the North Pole Patriots Friday at CHS.

Despite the pounding rain and gusting wind, the Knights stuck to their offensive gameplan and threw the ball often, but with no success until the third quarter. After throwing 12 incomplete passes, quarterback Teddy Babcock finally managed to put together a good throw, planting his foot, gripping the ball firmly and stepping forward without slipping.

&#8220I just didn't get it done until that pass,” Babcock said. &#8220I'm not going to blame the weather or field conditions. I just didn't do my job.”

That is until he hooked up with Ryan Coffman on a 64-yard touchdown pass.

&#8220It really made a believer out of me in the coaches calling for pass plays on a night like tonight,” Babcock said. &#8220Once I got off a good throw it really turned things in our favor.”

That scoring drive ended the back-and-forth sloppy play, which was dominated more by the field conditions than the play of either team. The two squads combined for 8 total fumbles - four of those resulted in a change in possession.

&#8220The rain was coming down, the field was all muddy and it was really hard to hold on to the ball,” Colony running back Chebon Jimenez said.

The Knights fell behind early when North Pole drove 64 yards on its first possession. Fullback Kevin Kornack capped the drive with a 2-yard touchdown.

&#8220I made them look really good on that first drive,” Colony head coach and defensive coordinator Jamie Mayo said. &#8220I went away from our original defensive scheme, and tried to get cute. What I did was stunt our defense right out of the play and they took advantage of it.”

Patriots head coach Buck Nystrom called on running back Todd McCormick to carry the ball the bulk of the plays during the opening drive. The junior posted 46 yards in seven tries.

&#8220After that drive I changed our defense up,” Mayo said. &#8220We went with our basic defensive sets. That was the only way we could play in the weather.”

The change paid off as the Knights defense, led by tackle James Savage and linebacker Greg Andrews, smothered McCormick for the remainder of the game.

McCormick carried the ball 19 times more, but only managed 41 more yards.

&#8220Our defense really settled down and played a wonderful game given the weather conditions,” Mayo said.

The Knights responded to North Pole's opening score when Jimenez broke free for a 76-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.

Tied at 7-7 the two teams finished the first half with a pair of wild plays.

McCormick squirted out of the mass of bodies at midfield, taking a screen pass from Luke Isaacson 50 yards to give the Patriots a 13-7 lead with 14 seconds left till the half.

On the ensuing kickoff Robin Minoza streaked 74 yards down the sideline into the end zone to tie the game before the break.

&#8220After the second touchdown, I felt real comfortable,” Babcock said. &#8220It really gave us the shot in the arm we needed. We used that as momentum for the second half.”

In addition to Babcock's scoring pass to Coffman, Jimenez added a 45-yard scoring run late in the fourth to seal the Railbelt Conference victory for the Knights.

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

frontiersman.com.