Warriors run away with win over Colony

WASILLA — Bursts of color and light filled the sky high above Veterans Memorial Field Friday night. But the homecoming fireworks show turned out to be the encore to a dynamic performance courtesy of a pair of Wasilla High running backs.

Senior Devin Otto and sophomore Mosiah Renk rushed for at least 200 yards each and combined for seven touchdowns to lead the Warriors to a 50-20 Railbelt Conference win over the visiting Colony Knights.

“It starts with the offensive line, they came in and really worked their butts off,” Otto said after the win, just before the fireworks began to fill the dark sky in the homecoming display courtesy of the Valley’s Gorilla Fireworks.

Otto finished with a game-high 217 yards and four touchdowns. Renk enjoyed a career best, finishing with 200 yards and three scores on only 10 carries.

“We went out and played Kenai the week previous and the running game wasn’t really there,” Otto said. “We just wanted to come out here and run the ball.”

Wasilla finished with 445 yards rushing in the win behind a front five that continues to improve, WHS head coach Kent Rilatos said.

“It’s the second week in a row with the same starting lineup,” Rilatos said of an offensive front that had been hampered by injuries earlier in the year. “They’re starting to gel, starting to understand situations, and they’re getting better.”

Wasilla senior offensive lineman Dahlton Wasankari said hard work is paying off for the Warriors.

“We’ve worked together in practice, really studied, watched film, worked hard,” Wasankari said.

Behind its running game, Wasilla improved to 4-2 overall and 2-1 in Railbelt Conference play. With the win, Wasilla hurdled Colony (4-2, 1-2) in the standings. The Warriors also posted their first home win over Colony since 2002.

“It was really huge, really good to come out here and beat our rivals,” Otto said.

Otto and Renk, who now have a combined 17 rushing touchdowns this season, each scored in the first quarter to give the Warriors the early lead. Otto provided the first score, plunging into the end zone from three yards out with just more than four minutes left in the first quarter. Renk tacked on a touchdown with a 24-yard score with 29 seconds left in the opening frame.

On just the fourth play of the second quarter, and the first play of a Wasilla drive, Renk used a highlight reel worthy effort to give Wasilla the three-score lead. Renk took the ball to the right sideline and broke several tackles as he reversed his direction the left side of the field. Renk came back to the left, and ran all the way to the end zone for the 55-yard score.

“Put Mosiah in open space and he’s going to get the yards,” Otto said.

Renk also added a 64-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. The sophomore averaged 20 yards per carry in the game.

Rilatos lauded not only the effort of his running backs, but those paving the way for them.

“It was a complete effort. It was the downfield blocks,” Rilatos said. “We had linemen 20 yards downfield trying to pick up blocks to let him spring loose.”

Otto scored three times in the second half. The senior opened the third quarter with a 41-yard touchdown run, giving the Warriors a 29-0 lead. He scored on an 11-yard run on the second play of the fourth quarter, and added a 15-yard touchdown late in the game.

“We have excellent running backs,” Wasankari said. “I’m proud to protect them.”

Otto has been the workhorse, with 792 yards on 147 carries through six games. But Rilatos said the Warriors want opposing defenses to have more to worry about.

“If they’re keying on one, we’ll feed the other,” Rilatos said. “We want to get to the point where they’re keying on two (running backs).”

Renk now has 350 yards on only 38 carries.

Colony was held scoreless in the first half, and had only 12 yards rushing and 15 yards receiving through the first two quarters. But Colony tried to rally in the second half.

For the second straight week, junior quarterback Steven Bilafer factored into all of Colony’s scoring. Bilafer tossed a pair of touchdown passes and ran for another. Last week, Bilafer finished with two rushing touchdowns and two touchdown passes during a loss to Lathrop.

Bilafer capped Colony’s first offensive possession of the second half with a 24-yard touchdown pass to senior Tucker Looney.

Looney now has a touchdown catch in all six games for the Knights this season. Later in the quarter, Bilafer connected with Kody Nash on a 5-yard score.

In the fourth quarter, Bilafer scampered for a 24-yard scoring run.

“Colony put up a heck of a battle,” Rilatos said. “There was no laying down.”

Bilafer completed 50 percent of his passes and threw for 143 yards. Jared Ruffing led the Knights with five catches for 64 yards.

With the win, Wasilla took a step toward clinching its first playoff berth since 2011. Colony will need a win over Palmer (1-5, 0-2) next Friday at Colony High School to stay in the playoff race. Palmer suffered a 28-26 loss to Lathrop in Fairbanks Friday night. Lathrop (5-1, 3-0) clinched its first Railbelt Conference title since 1998 with its win over the Moose.

Wasilla hosts North Pole next week. The Warriors travel to Palmer for the annual Potato Bowl in Week 8.

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

Wasilla 50, Colony 20

Friday, Veterans Memorial Field.

First quarter:

Wasilla — Otto 3 run (Reed kick) 4:39.

Wasilla — Renk 24 run (Reed kick) 0:29.

Second quarter:

Wasilla — Renk 55 run (Marks run) 10:56.

Third quarter:

Wasilla — Otto 41 run (Reed kick) 11:40.

Colony — Looney 24 pass from Bilafer (Menard kick) 9:16.

Wasilla — Renk 64 run (Reed kick) 7:12.

Colony — Nash 5 pass from Bilafer (Menard kick) 4:29.

Fourth quarter:

Wasilla — Otto 11 run (kick good) 11:07.

Colony — Bilafer 24 run (run failed) 7:48.

Wasilla — Otto 15 run (Reed kick) 5:12.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS:

RUSHING — Colony: Bilafer 15-43, Nero 12-3, Nash 1-(-4); Wasilla: Otto 28-217, Renk 10-200, Marks 4-(-2), Klein 2-19, Garnett 2-11.

PASSING — Colony: Bilafer 15-28-0—143, Nash 2-3-1—10; Wasilla: Marks 2-3-0—25.

RECEIVING — Colony: Ruffing 5-64, Kolb 4-22, Nero 3-26, Looney 2-30, Nash 2-11.