Tournament time: Brackets reveal tough matchups in first round

WASILLA — It’s not even through February and the madness has already begun.

A few surprises during the final weekend of the regular season shook up the Northern Lights Conference boys’ standings, leaving one side of the NLC tournament bracket as tough as anyone has seen in years.

Colony, Palmer, Kenai and Soldotna all share the bottom side of the NLC bracket, creating intriguing possibilities for the tourney, which starts Thursday at Wasilla High.

“Those are certainly some of the perennial powers all on one side,” Colony head coach Tom Berg said.

Berg’s squad used tough wins over Soldotna, Palmer and Kodiak during the final stretch of the regular season to secure the No. 2 seed from the North Division. But Berg and the Knights received a bit of a surprise when they figured out Soldotna had slipped to the No. 3 seed and the Stars would be Colony’s first-round opponent.

Homer used wins over Kenai, Soldotna and Skyview late in the year to jump to second in the South Division. Homer and Soldotna both finished 4-6, but the Mariners had a better record in the South.

Kodiak entered the final weekend of the regular season as the fourth team from the North Division, but the Bears swept Palmer in a two-game series in Kodiak last weekend.

“You’ve got to give credit to the Homers and Kodiaks of the world, taking advantage of the opportunities,” Berg said. “They took advantage of the opportunity to win games last weekend.”

Palmer opens tourney play against Kenai, the South’s top seed, Thursday at 1:15 p.m. Colony meets Soldotna at 4:45 p.m.

Berg said he expects both games to be competitive. He said, regardless of which teams move forward or back, Friday will also produce competitive games on the bottom side of the bracket.

“It will be a tough game Thursday followed by a tough game Friday,” Berg said.

Colony finished 6-4 in the NLC, while Palmer settled for 4-6 in NLC play. Kenai won the South Division with an 8-2 record.

Palmer and Colony both beat Soldotna during the regular season. Kenai beat Palmer and Colony on back-to-back days at Kenai Central High in February.

Wasilla (10-0), in search of its fourth straight conference title, is the top seed from the North and will play fourth-seeded Skyview (1-9) at 8:15 p.m. on Thursday.

Valley rivals Colony and Wasilla ended up on the same side of the girls’ bracket. Wasilla (10-0) is the top seed from the North and will face Skyview (0-10) at 6:30 p.m. Colony, the third seed from the North, meets second-seeded Kenai at 3 p.m.

On the bottom side of the bracket, second-seeded Kodiak meets third-seeded Homer Thursday at 8 a.m.

Soldotna (9-1) is the top seed from the South, and will face fourth-seeded Palmer at 11:30 a.m.

See frontiersman.com/sports for updates during the tournament.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com and follow him at twitter.com/matsu_sports.