Prep football: Knights power past Moose

Sept. 10, 2006

By DARRELL L. BREESE/ Frontiersman

PALMER - If there was any chance the Colony High football team had forgotten last season's two losses to the Palmer Moose, CHS head coach Jamie Mayo made sure to remind his team before Friday's rematch.

The coach stressed the team needed to be more physical, and the result was a dominating performance on offense, defense and special teams as host Colony defeated Palmer 32-2 in a Railbelt Conference Valley showdown.

&#8220We were talking about last year (when) they physically beat us,” Mayo said. &#8220I told the kids it was like watching your own kid get beat up on the street corner. No ifs, ands or buts about it. They physically beat us.

&#8220Tonight wasn't about redemption,” Mayo continued. &#8220It was about playing a better game, coming out ready to play and being more physical from the first snap to the last snap.”

The Knights did that.

Even though they gained 364 yards on offense, Mayo thought his defense had all the answers in the thrashing of the visiting Moose, ranked third in the state by the Alaska Sports Broadcasting Network.

&#8220I thought the key actually was our defense,” Mayo said. &#8220The defense played one heck of a ballgame with a lot of guys who don't normally get any recognition. We came ready to play. I think that was the key - particularly early.”

The victory improved Colony, No. 2 in the ASBN large-schools rankings, to 5-0 overall, 3-0 in the conference.

Palmer fell to 3-2 and 2-1.

&#8220Our big guys really controlled the line of scrimmage on defense,” Mayo said. &#8220They also played big on offense. That was the key for us tonight. We won the battle up front.”

Leading the charge up front for the Knights were seniors Justin Beauchamp and James Savage. The pair of defensive tackles combined for 27 tackles and filled gaps to shut down the powerful Palmer running game.

&#8220I don't think that they even had 100 yards of offense tonight,” Mayo said. &#8220Justin and James really plugged up the middle, allowing our linebackers to keep their backs from getting to the outside.”

The Moose actually finished with 175 yards of total offense. Palmer running back Haakan Bohman came into the night averaging 155 yards per game, but finished with 78. Teammate Tanner Grover averaged 105 a game, but was held to just 23.

&#8220It was all about pride for us,” said Beauchamp, who finished with 12 tackles. &#8220One of the Palmer backs said he was going to run for a school record against us. We were determined there was no way that was going to happen.”

While the play of the Knights defensive line frustrated the Moose, the offensive line also dominated up front.

The Knights led 19-2 at halftime and finished with 255 yards rushing, and 20 first downs.

Senior running back Chebon Jimenez carried 32 times for 245 yards and three touchdowns, Quarterback Teddy Babcock completed 8 of 14 passes for 109 yards, including a first half touchdown pass behind the big offensive line

The Knights' front five, which averages 255 pounds, were crucial to all their offensive success. The group of senior guards Beauchamp and Wade Bowen, tackles Jerry Johnson and Stuart Kreuger, and center Foster Kizer, made running the offense look easy.

&#8220I thought we'd win the battle up front,” Beauchamp said. &#8220But I didn't think we'd dominate like we did.”

The Knights struck midway through the first quarter when Babcock hit tight end George Percak-Dennet for a 29-yard scoring pass. He then handed off to Jimenez for the Knights second score, just four minutes later.

Babcock added a punctuation mark to the first half when he strolled through a big hole opened by Kizer and Beauchamp, into the end zone with less than a minute to play.

Palmer got on the board in the second quarter, thanks to the only miscue for the Knights. Robin Minoza fielded a punt on the Colony four-yard line, while attempting to escape the herd of Moose racing toward him he back tracked into the end zone where he was tackled, giving the Moose a safety and two points.

Minoza made up for the play in the second half when he scooped up a fumble caused by Bowen, after he hit Palmer quarterback Conrad Smith behind the line of scrimmage.

After the half the big offensive line took over for the Knights and wore down the Moose.

&#8220It was great running behind them out there in the second half,” Jimenez said, who gained 167 yards in the half. &#8220They've been making big holes for me all season, I owe it to them to run as hard as I can every time I get the ball.”

The Knights added two Jimenez touchdowns in the second half as they held the Palmer offense scoreless for the first time this season.

Darrell L. Breese can be reached at 352-2267 or at darrell.breese@frontiersman.com.