Railbelt title up for grabs tonight at Colony High

PALMER — The Colony Knights have a chance to make school history tonight.

A win over Chugiak would give the Knights back-to-back Railbelt Conference titles for the first time. But to accomplish that goal, the Knights will need to beat a Mustangs team that looks awfully familiar to the Colony coaching staff.

“It really looks like we’re looking in the mirror,” Colony head coach Rhett Magner said of the Mustangs, who the Knights host tonight at 7 p.m. at Colony High School. “They’re tough, hard-nosed kids, who play 100 percent every single down. They’re coached well, they play for each other. It really looks like we are looking in a mirror. They play exactly how we coach our kids to play. It’s going to be a tough game.”

A Colony win tonight would also help the Knights avoid a potential mess at the top of the standings. The Knights roll into the final week of the regular season 3-0 in Railbelt play. Lathrop and Chugiak sit closely behind, each at 2-1. Chugiak’s lone conference loss came to Lathrop. Colony beat the Malemutes 26-20 in overtime last week in Fairbanks.

“We battled through a lot of adversity,” Magner said of the Lathrop win.

Colony needed a defensive stand and a spark from an offensive reserve in extra time to get past the upset-minded Malemutes and improve to 6-1 overall. In overtime, Colony blocked a Lathrop field goal try. On Colony’s ensuing drive, second-string quarterback Marcus Lorentz scored on a 5-yard touchdown run to give the Knights the win.

Magner said the Knights inserted Lorentz into the game after starting quarterback Parker Kizer was hit hard in the fourth.

“Parker took a shot, but we didn’t skip a beat,” Magner said. “We have all the faith in the world in Marcus.”

Magner also praised the play of his defense.

“At the end the defense came through,” Magner said.

Magner said the Colony coaches have mentioned the Knights opportunity to win back-to-back Railbelt titles for the first time, and make school history.

“We mentioned it before the Lathrop game. This hasn’t been done before. Take care of business against Lathrop, and have the opportunity to do something great,” Magner said. “Hopefully that motivates them a little bit.

Tonight’s game is one of two Week 8 contests that will help decide the playoff seeding in the Raiblet. The four berths are already clinched. Colony (3-0), Lathrop (2-1), Chugiak (2-1) and Wasilla (1-3) are all in. Wasilla will be the fourth seed, and will play the top seed from the Cook Inlet Conference in the first round. The top three seeds will be determined by tonight’s game and the Lathrop-West Valley matchup on Saturday.

Wasilla hosts Palmer tonight in the 38th annual Potato Bowl. With the Moose now in the medium-schools Northern Lights Conference, it’s a nonconference game. Palmer took a big step toward a postseason berth with a 21-7 win over Kenai Central last week. Palmer now sits at 3-1 in NLC play. With a Soldotna (3-0) victory over Kenai (2-1) Saturday, Palmer would officially clinch the No. 2 seed from the NLC.

Houston clinched a playoff berth with a 55-27 victory over Barrow. The Hawks are the No. 2 seed from the Aurora Conference and will play at either Nikiski or Seward next week in the first round of the small-schools playoffs. Nikiski and Seward clash Saturday.

Tonight also marks the first varsity football game between Houston and the Redington Huskies. Houston hosts Redington at 7 p.m.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.