Colony players hoist the school’s first state championship trophy in football. Photo by Bryan Boyett/Alaska Sports Report
As night descended on the chilled Anchorage hillside Friday, the breathtaking view of the snow-capped Chugach Mountains in the distance slowly vanished.
At the same time, a defensive thriller ensued when the statistically high-powered offenses of the teams in the ASAA First National Bowl Division I football championship disappeared as well.
Colony’s jack-of-all-everything Jack Nash scored on a 10-yard scurry with 17 seconds remaining at Service High to help lift his squad to a 14-7 victory over previously unbeaten Juneau. The Knights (9-2) earned the school’s first football title and only the second large-school championship by a Matanuska-Susitna Valley program.
“This is something our whole community is never going to forget,” Nash said. “It’s honestly hard to put into words.”
Colony’s Jack Nash scampers into the end zone for the game-winning touchdown in Colony’s 14-7 win over Juneau. Photo by Bryan Boyett/Alaska Sports Report
Colony’s 2022 triumph is matched in Valley lore only by its arch-rival across town, Palmer. The Moose won the 1995 championship back in the more sensible single-classification days of Alaska high school football.
“We talked about it all week, this was going to be a dogfight from the opening coin toss to the final buzzer,” said Colony junior Cole Hamilton. “Defense really does win championships and ours showed up when it needed to most.”
Both Colony and Juneau (10-1) entered the title tilt – played before a surprisingly sizable crowd considering the glaring lack of an Anchorage school participating for the first time since 2007 – averaging more than 33 points per game. The Knights scored 46 in their semifinal win over Bartlett last week while the Huskies scored 52 and 39 points respectively in its two playoff games leading up to the DI finale.
“The kids just played fantastic,” said Brad Lindstrom, the former Chugiak all stater and Colony’s defensive coordinator the last five seasons. “Flat out, Juneau out-physicals you, and we didn’t get ‘out-physical-ed’ tonight.”
ASAA/First National Bowl
DI Championship All-Game Team
Jack Nash, junior, Colony
Jamal Johnson, senior, Juneau
Cole Hamilton, junior, Colony
Brandon Campbell, senior, Juneau
Jayce Underwood, junior, Colony
Jarrell Williams, senior, Juneau
When Juneau hammered Colony 42-13 in the fourth week of the regular season, the Huskies ran over the Knights and then ran some more. Juneau senior Jamal Johnson totaled 337 rushing yards and three touchdowns. While strong throughout the championship, Johnson was held by Colony to 132 yards and a score on 20 carries.
The Knights stymied Juneau to the tune of only 202 total offensive yards. Colony put up 358 yards of offense.
“This game made some sense to us after we played (Colony) earlier,” said Juneau coach Rich Sjoroos. “A lot of our yards in that game came after contact, they really shored that up throughout the season. They were making plays.”
Colony opened the scoring when Nash pump-faked left before lacing a 49-yard scoring strike right to Jayce Underwood with 4:13 remaining in the opening quarter. Nash matched his rushing performance with 140 passing yards.
Johnson evened the score 7-7 with an 11-yard scoring run early in the second quarter.
Juneau’s Jamal Johnson averaged 6.6 yards per carry in the title game. Photo by Bryan Boyett/Alaska Sports Report
The defenses then found a way to thwart the opposing offenses for most of the remainder of the game. Hamilton recorded a pair of sacks. The Huskies blocked a Colony field-goal attempt in the third quarter.
Despite committing six of its 10 penalties in the fourth quarter, Colony possessed the ball late with the game still tied.
Enter Hamilton, who touched the ball once in the first half on a 3-yard pass completion from Nash. He finished the night with two carries for eight yards and five receptions for 66 yards. His moment that will always be remembered came with 2:43 left to go.
Colony’s Cole Hamilton (left) made the catch of the night. Photo by Bryan Boyett/Alaska Sports Report
Nash rolled to his right and found Hamilton for a 35-yard completion that moved the ball to Juneau’s side of the gridiron. The Huskies covered Hamilton well, yet the receiver managed to hang on to the ball despite a noticeable bobble.
“The pass was moving to my inside and I thought ‘I’ve got to get this,’” Hamilton said. “I got it and then (the ball) started tumbling a little in my hands. The defender tipped it and then I did with my other hand, snagged it right in against my shoulder.”
Hamilton converted a 13-yard hookup moments later. Soon after, Nash scored the last-second touchdown.
“Absolutely mindboggling,” Nash said. “I’ve dreamed of playing in this championship game since I was a kid. Now, we got Colony its first one.”
The 2022 ASAA Division I state champion Colony Knights. Photo by Bryan Boyett/Alaska Sports Report
Juneau won a pair of single-classification titles in 2005 and 2007. Friday’s loss marked the program’s fourth second-place finish and second consecutive.
“There’s a lot of pain right now,” Sjoroos said. “But you can’t experience joy or pain without doing a lot of good things to get there.
“It’s going to take a little while to get to the stage where they can appreciate all they accomplished. I told them, if I could have this group every season, I would keep coaching for the next 50 years.”
Juneau’s Jayden Johnson and Payton Grant team up to block a 32-yard field goal attempt in the fourth quarter. Photo by Bryan Boyett/Alaska Sports Report