Warriors, Knights meet in key Railbelt football battle

WASILLA — Abe Salmon likes to use history as a tool to motivate his team.

Heading into the week of practice as the Wasilla Warriors prepared to face Valley rival Colony, Salmon, a longtime WHS assistant and former Warriors standout, gathered a list of scores from recent Wasilla-Colony games.

Looking at the list, there’s one fact that popped out. Wasilla has not defeated Colony at Wasilla High’s Veterans Memorial Field since 2002.

Salmon, who played in that 2002 win over the Warriors, said he didn’t even realize that game marked the last time Wasilla scored a home win over Colony.

Salmon, a senior in 2002, rushed for 143 yards and two touchdowns during Wasilla’s 16-0 home win over Colony. Since that day, Wasilla is 0-5 against Colony at home.

Colony still holds the edge in the history of the series, boasting a 13-10 mark in 23 meetings. The Knights are also 7-3 in the last 10 games. But the series has been close more recently. Each squad is 2-2 in the last four games.

The odd thing though, the winners in each of the last four games have been the visitor. Wasilla has won two straight games at Colony.

“It’s kind of the cyclical nature of high school sports, but the years we beat them we’re at their place,” Salmon said. “It’s the same for them. The years they beat us, it’s at our place. It’s kind of strange.”

Wasilla’s winless streak against the Knights at WHS has certainly been a big part of conversation, Salmon said. To continue to motivate his players, Salmon made 35 copies of a flyer with details he hopes will rally the Wasilla troops. Facts like the all-time series, and the record in the last 10 years standout. He also put an asterisk next to the 1994 result, Colony’s first win in history against Wasilla.

Salmon said these historical details have sparked the players, and helped create more excitement.

Even the parents are fired up, Salmon said, after he posted some of these facts on the team’s Facebook page.

“A lot of people have been talking about it,” said Salmon, Wasilla’s defensive coordinator, and member of the WHS coaching staff for the past 12 seasons.

Kent Rilatos, now 2-1 in his three meetings against Colony as the Wasilla head coach, said its well-known among his players that the Warriors are looking for their first home win over Colony in more than a decade. But overall, regardless of the last time Wasilla beat Colony at WHS, Rilatos said the Warriors know a win over Colony is crucial to the team’s playoff hopes.

“Whoever wins the Valley goes to state,” Rilatos said of the key Railbelt games against the likes of Colony and Palmer. “The first step is Colony this week.”

Colony head coach Brian McIntosh echoed Rilatos.

“We win the Valley gams, that pretty much puts us in the playoffs,” McIntosh said.

Both teams enter tonight’s matchup, slated to kickoff at 7 p.m., with 1-1 marks in the Railbelt. Colony dropped to 1-1 with a 49-28 loss to Lathrop in Fairbanks last week. Both Colony and Wasilla have a win over West Valley and a loss to Lathrop, and each closes its conference schedule against Palmer. The Knights host Palmer (0-1) next week. Wasilla makes the trip to Palmer in the annual Potato Bowl in Week 8.

West Valley (1-2) kept its playoff hopes alive with a 35-28 win over Palmer last week. The top squads from the five-team Railbelt advance to the postseason.

McIntosh said the Knights have worked hard during the week to recover from the loss to Lathrop.

“We want to finish strong take care of our own business,” McIntosh said.

Colony trailed Lathrop 21-0 early, 28-7 at halftime and 35-7 heading into the fourth quarter. The Knights did rally, scoring 21 points during the final frame. Junior quarterback Steven Bilafer played a role in all four Knights touchdowns. Bilafer threw for 118 yards and two touchdown passes, and added 81 yards and two scores on the ground.

Colony senior Tuckey Looney extended his streak catching touchdowns. Looney (six catches for 45 yards) caught a touchdown pass for the fifth consecutive week. McIntosh also noted Looney’s work on the other side of the ball.

“He’s having a tremendous season,” McIntosh said of Looney.

“He’s definitely one of our key components in the secondary. He was our leading tackler (against Lathrop). He has a nose for the ball.”

Wasilla took a break from conference play, and scored a 20-10 win over Kenai Central on the Peninsula. Wasilla’s defense and special teams came up big in the win. Mosiah Renk returned the game’s opening kickoff 83 yards for a touchdown. D.J. Morrow returned a fumble 15 yards for a score.

“The defense really stepped up,” Rilatos said.

Renk led the Warriors with 97 yards rushing. Rilatos said the Warriors hope to have more success on the ground, noting it’s the first time this season the Warriors have had the same group of offensive linemen in the starting lineup for consecutive weeks. Wasilla was hit hard by injuries up front earlier in the year.

Palmer at Lathrop

Palmer travels north to face Lathrop tonight at 7 p.m. in the Interior. Lathrop (4-1 overall, 2-0 in conference play) is in search of clinching its first conference title in more than a decade. Palmer (1-4, 0-1) is trying to stay in the race following a tough 35-28 loss to West Valley at PHS last week.

Lathrop quarterback Glenn Maiden burned Colony for 258 yards passing and 5 touchdowns during a 49-28 win over the Knights last week. Maiden has 1,329 yards passing and 13 touchdowns threw the first five weeks of the season.

Earlier this season, Maiden threw for 327 yards and three touchdowns during a 21-10 win over Wasilla.

While Lathrop has the top passing quarterback in the Railbelt, Palmer sports the conference’s leader in rushing. Junior Chase Ferris has 788 yards and nine rushing touchdowns. Ferris topped the 200-yard mark for the second straight time last week, finishing with 221 yards and two scores against West Valley. Ferris rushed for a career-best 291 and five scores against North Pole in Week 3.

Ferris also has seven catches for 92 yards and two touchdowns.

Kenai at Houston

The Houston Hawks host the Kenai junior varsity tonight at 7 p.m. at Houston High.

Houston played twice during a long road trip to Southeast Alaska last week. The Hawks beat Sitka 7-6 last Wednesday before suffering a 47-0 loss to Thunder Mountain in Juneau last Saturday.

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