Tough draw

WASILLA — Either the Wasilla Warriors just needed the first half to get going or head coach Blake Livingston gives one heck of a halftime speech.

Regardless, the Warriors overcame a slow first half and used a strong final 40 minutes to force a 2-2 tie with the Colony Knights at Wasilla High School on Monday.

“They came out fired up in the second half,” Colony head coach Jeremy Johnson said of the Warriors. “They won the second half. They got that extra goal to tie it up.”

Kyler Perry sent a ball up the field and Dustin Hout beat Colony goalkeeper Jesse Krey during the 49th minute to tie the score at 2-2 and force the Northern Lights Conference tie.

Despite the tie, Colony earned the NLC North Division’s top seed in the upcoming NLC Championships, which start Thursday at Kenai Central High School. Wasilla, which caps its regular season today at Palmer, will be the NLC North’s No. 2 seed.

James Meaney and Aaron Richardson each scored during a three-minute stretch during a first half controlled by the Knights. But the Warriors responded during the second.

“It was kind of a tale of two halves,” Johnson said.

Both teams had their opportunities during the final 40 minutes. Krey was tested a number of times. The Knights pressured Wasilla keeper Eli Tingstad. But the Hout goal and the play of the Wasilla back line proved to be the difference.

Colony had a handful of chances to notch the go-ahead score, including a pair during the final minutes. Meaney knocked a header off a Oliver Querin corner kick right into a Wasilla player standing on the goal line with about a minute left.

John Meaney tapped a shot, off a long Logan Smith throw-in, just above the crossbar just before the final whistle sounded.

“We had all kinds of chances,” Johnson said. “You’ve just got to finish some of those.”

Querin’s corner kick bounced in front of the goal line and James Meaney crashed the backside to knock it in during the 22nd minute to give the 1-0 lead.

But in the following minute, Wasilla senior Jake Barber raced down the field and centered as short pass to Paul Sliwa, who knocked it into the goal to tie the score at 1-1.

“To bounce back that quickly says a lot about our character,” Livingston said.

Colony took the lead once again during the 24th minute when Richardson converted a penalty kick.

Krey made a handful of big saves for the Knights in the second half. He stopped three attempts by Hout and another by Barber. A save on a Hout breakaway shot during the 47th minute took him off his feet. During the 72nd minute, Krey kicked the ball clear, away from a sprinting Barber.

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