Showdown

PALMER -- Since the 2004 Alaska prep football master schedule was released, the date Oct. 2 has been circled on the calendar. Before the season even began, many looked ahead to the final week and a match pitting the Colony Knights against the North Pole Patriots.

All who said this contest would be a showdown and would decide the Railbelt Conference title are right. Colony and North Pole, each undefeated at 4-0 in conference play, meet Saturday at 2 p.m. at Colony High School, with the winner earning the 2004 Railbelt crown.

Although North Pole has been at least in the back of the minds of everyone sporting the Knight green and black, Colony head coach Randy Magner said his squad has done a good job of not looking too far ahead to the Patriots and past its other seven opponents.

"Every week we prepare for that next opponent," Magner said.

And now for the last week the Knights have prepared for an opponent that includes the state's top rusher in Perry Monzulla, a big offensive line and a solid defense. Though the Patriots have received little love in the Anchorage Daily News State Coaches' poll, North Pole has cruised through the first seven weeks, earning a 6-1 record. North Pole's only blemish came in week one, with a 19-16 loss to Bartlett.

"I have voted them as one of the top one or two teams in the state all season," Magner said. "Apparently I am the only one. I think they are one of the top teams in the state."

Despite their success, the Patriots have been left out of the top-five for most of the season in a poll that has been dominated by Anchorage schools all season.

But regardless of rank, North Pole is still feared. And the reason why many fear North Pole is Monzulla. The senior tailback has rushed for 1,816 yards and 27 touchdowns this season, topping the 300 yard mark on a more consistent basis than most teams in the state. But when opponents focus all of their efforts on Monzulla, North Pole has burned foes with the pass.

"Monzulla is so much of their offense," Magner said. "But you can't always key on one guy."

Patriot quarterback Chris Powell has also demonstrated his ability to strike often. Powell had a combined nine touchdown passes in wins over Palmer and Wasilla.

Though Monzulla is closing in on 2,000 yards rushing, he is yet to face a defense of Colony's caliber. The Knights shut out their fifth opponent of the season with a 55-0 win over Wasilla last week. Colony has allowed just one running back on an opposing team to top the 100-yard mark. Kenai's Dakota Craig, a back with comparable talent to Monzulla, ran for 101 yards on 32 carries in the Knightsâ 31-6 win over the Kardinals early this season. The Knightsâ opponents are averaging just 100.8 yards rushing per game and 2.6 yards per carry.

"We've been playing the run pretty well," Magner said.

Magner said a key to the game with be the performance of his defensive line in a match against a large North Pole offensive front. Defensive tackles Dominick Bellotte, James Savage and Josiah Hubbard will lead the charge inside, while ends Ricky Cunningham and Dan Camargo will have the responsibility of containing the Patriots' weapons.

In order to keep the ball of the hands of North Pole's weapons, Colony will look to its own offense, led by quarterback Rhett Magner, running back Shawn Olivera and wide receiver Justin Schwartzbauer.

Olivera leads the Knight rushing attack with 589 yards on only 80 carries. Rhett Magner has burned teams with both his legs and his arm, running for 346 and throwing for 790 and 15 touchdowns. The senior signal caller has tossed just one interception this season. Schwartzbauer leads the state with 10 touchdown catches and has caught at least one Magner touchdown pass in each game this season.

The explosive Knights have the tendency to use the big play to bury teams this season. In Colony's 42-14 win over Palmer, the Knights posted three scores of 46 yards or more. With just a 7-0 lead last week at Wasilla, Rhett Magner scampered for a 79-yard score to help the Knights break away from the Warriors.

"A point of emphasis is to be able to make our offense a little more efficient," Magner said.

With a win Colony will win the conference outright and host the Railbelt Conference fourth-seed in the first week of the postseason. With a loss, Colony will finish second and host the conference's third seed in a playoff match next week.

Playoff talk:

Wasilla @ Palmer

The playoff scenarios get a bit tougher after Colony and North Pole, and the outcome of the 2004 Potato Bowl will factor heavily into which teams earn the third and fourth seeds in the conference.

For the 2-2 Warriors, it's win and you're in. Regardless of the outcome of the West Valley-Lathrop match, a Wasilla victory will ensure a playoff spot for the Warriors.

And if the Warriors win, the Moose are still alive. If Palmer suffers a loss, the Moose would need a West Valley win. A West Valley win creates a three-way tie between Palmer, West Valley and Lathrop at 1-3. Wasilla would earn the third seed and the decision for the fourth seed would go down to the fourth tiebreaker, fewest points allowed in conference. West Valley currently leads with only 206 points allowed. Palmer has allowed 229 points and Lathrop has given up 278 points.

With a Palmer win and a West Valley win, Palmer and Wasilla would both earn playoff spots with records of 2-3. Palmer, due to head-to-head competition, would earn the third seed and Wasilla would receive the fourth seed. West Valley and Lathrop would each finish

1-3.

With a Palmer win and a Lathrop win, chaos again ensues. Palmer, Lathrop and Wasilla would each be tied at 2-3 and again the tiebreaker would be fewest points allowed in the conference. The team with the fewest points allowed would earn the third seed. The two teams left over would use the head-to-head tiebreaker, with the loser watching the playoffs from the stands.

Houston @ Valdez

With a win over Valdez on Saturday, the Hawks could squeeze into the Great Land Conference playoffs -- with a little help. The Hawks threw a monkey wrench into the conference playoff scenarios with a 20-13 win over Nikiski last week. Now if Seward (4-1) is beaten by Nikiski (3-2) and Houston (3-2) tops Valdez, Seward, Nikiski and Houston would be in a three-way tie at 4-2. A coin flip would decide which team earns the conference's second seed, with the odd man in the flip in the postseason.

Eielson (5-0) has already clinched the top spot.