Prep football: Colony seniors began winning tradition at youth level

Oct. 20, 2006

By Jeremiah Bartz/ Frontiersman

PALMER - Stephen Minoza probably knows the Colony High School football team's senior class as well as anyone.

He's coached most of the players.

More than half of the 25 seniors who will lead the Knights onto the field for the 2006 First National Bowl large-school state championship game on Saturday started their football careers on a youth team coached by Minoza.

&#8220Most of them were fourth-graders,” Minoza said Wednesday, as he listed the names of many of the players that were on his team nine years ago.

Names like Chebon Jimenez, James Savage, Nathan Kowalczk, George Percak-Dennett, Ryan Coffman, Andrew Warner, Justin Beau-champ, Regis Price and his own son Robin.

And the list goes on and on.

All of those players have figured prominently into the success of the Knights during their senior season, and are many of the reasons why Colony is 9-1 and battling for its first state title in school history.

&#8220One of the reasons why they are playing so well now, is they have been together for so long,” said Minoza. &#8220They know eachother's strengths and weaknesses. They know each other's shortcomings. They've really grown up together playing football.”

Minoza led this group of talent to a pair of state football championships, while he was coaching the Colony Knights youth squads in the Mat-Su Youth Football Association. The Knights won youth titles in 2004, when most of the players were in the fifth grade, and again in 2002 when they were eighth graders. Minoza said much of the credit for the success is due to his

players.

&#8220They really had their own kind of drive to win,” Minoza said. &#8220They never really needed a lot of coaching. We taught them the basics, and they took the ball from there.”

After Colony earned a spot in the state title game, with a 12-0 win over Chugiak last week, CHS senior George Percak-Dennett said winning a state high school title would complete what this group started nearly a decade ago.

&#8220We were in the fifth grade when we won the state championship in MYFA and ever since then, every year we're like, I can't wait until I'm a senior,” Percak-Dennett said. &#8220We're going to do pretty well (when we are seniors). We've been saying that since the fifth grade.”

And this group has done pretty well.

The senior-laden Colony team led the Knights to another Railbelt Conference championship, and posted a margin of victory of 274-52 in eight regular season games. In two playoff games, Colony has outscored its opponents 67-6.

The seniors attribute much of their success to the time they've spent together as teammates.

&#8220There's a special bond,” Colony senior captain Nathan Kowalczk said. &#8220Being such a close group helps a ton.”

Minoza was able to follow this group of seniors and coach them during each MYFA season. He watched this group grow, both figuratively and literally.

A powerful offensive line and running game has been a big part of Colony's identity during the 2006 season, and many of the key components got their start on Minoza's teams.

Chebon Jimenez is the state's leading rusher with 1,551 and 16 touchdowns. Nine years ago, Minoza saw that potential.

&#8220He was quite the runner back then,” Minoza said.

Some of Colony's big offensive linemen, such as Savage and Beauchamp, were even big back then, Minoza said. Some of them even flirted with the MYFA weight limit of 195 pounds.

&#8220The last year we won, some of them we're right on the cusp of not being able to play,” Minoza said.

As a group, Minoza said the players have always been a talented and coachable bunch of kids.

&#8220I'm really proud of them. They're good kids,” Minoza said. &#8220All of them have just done really well.”

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