The Palmer-Colony rivalry: An every-other-year throwdown for the Bogard Road foes

What you need to know:

• Palmer and Colony’s football rivalry isn’t a thing of the past; it remains intense because the neighboring schools share deep community ties.
• Changes to the state’s football divisions mean the rivalry is now played every other year. Colony competes in Division I and has room for only one nonconference opponent, forcing the Knights to rotate games against Palmer and Wasilla.
• Palmer continued to turn the series around last week, beating Colony 14-7 for its second straight win over the Knights after snapping Colony’s seven-game winning streak in 2024.
• Short on time but need the local news scoop? Get free weekly news in your inbox for Mat-Su, from Mat-Su.

Former Palmer High School all-state prep football standout Drew Frohling has vivid memories of the game against Colony during his senior season in the fall of 2007.

The Moose edged the Knights 14-13.

“It was a slugfest out there. We beat each other up,” Frohling, now an assistant coach with the Moose program, said during a team practice Thursday evening. “It was an amazing game.”

Frohling is one of many players who have donned either the blue and white or green and black during this storied high school gridiron rivalry that dates to 1992. The Potato Bowl, the annual clash between Palmer and Wasilla with a history dating to 1979, is still recognized as arguably the Valley’s most cherished prep sporting event. But a new rivalry sprouted in all sports, including football, when Colony opened its doors in 1991, just a few miles from Palmer High.

“Our kids are neighbors. Most of them grew up together. It’s a very emotional, very tough game,” Colony head coach Nathan Dahl said. “I don’t have to manufacture motivation for this one.”

Dahl is also a veteran of the Palmer-Colony football rivalry. He is a longtime coach in the program and was a player on the 1995 squad, the first Colony football team to advance to the playoffs.

Things are a bit different now on the Mat-Su prep football landscape. There are five programs — Palmer, Colony, Wasilla, Houston and Redington — spread across three divisions. The Alaska School Activities Association, the governing body for the state’s high school sports, has reclassified football multiple times since 2000. Alignment in Division I, Division II and Division III is based on overall student enrollment at each school.

Colony is currently the lone Mat-Su program at the Division I level. Palmer and Wasilla are both Division II, and Houston and Redington are Division III. The separation of Colony from its traditional Valley rivals, Palmer and Wasilla, has thrown a wrench into the schedule-making process.

Colony is a member of the eight-team Division I Cook Inlet Conference. With an eight-game regular-season schedule, Colony has room for only one nonconference opponent each year. Palmer and Wasilla are in the Division II Railbelt Conference, which also now has eight teams.

While Palmer and Wasilla’s annual rivalry is kept intact by the conference schedule, Colony cannot play both the Moose and the Warriors during the same season. The Knights now have to rotate.

Colony played Wasilla last year and Palmer this season.

Palmer head coach Tim Popowski said he does not think the year-on, year-off rotation has taken anything away from the Palmer-Colony football rivalry.

“When you have that break, it builds,” Popowski said of the anticipation and excitement.

Palmer has a large junior class this season, and Popowski said the players were motivated.

“We are really junior heavy, so that meant a lot to them,” Popowski said. “They knew this was their last chance to play Colony.”

The Palmer junior class did help the Moose prevail in a 14-7 win over the Knights on a wild-weather evening Aug. 28 at Colony High School. It was Palmer’s second straight win in the series. The Moose also beat Colony 47-23 at Machetanz Field in 2024.

“We’ve really had the chance to come out and prove ourselves,” Frohling said of the Division II Moose playing against a DI squad.

Frohling said it’s important for this generation to understand the importance of the rivalry.

“I give my little speeches,” the former offensive lineman said. “They know.”

That win in 2024 snapped a long losing skid for Palmer. Colony had won seven straight against the Moose, with the streak running from a 24-0 shutout in 2015 to a 55-3 romp in 2022, the year Colony won its first state football title in school history.

The matchup last week marked the 34th varsity meeting in the history of the rivalry. Colony still holds the 19-15 advantage overall and an 18-14 advantage during the regular season. The teams have met twice in the playoffs. Colony edged the Moose 12-7 in 2003, and Palmer beat the Knights 27-14 in 2005.

Colony holds the longest winning streak in the series, seven wins from 2015 to 2022. Palmer’s best is from the early years of the rivalry: five straight from 1992 to 1996.

“It’s kind of cliche, but any given Friday night between Palmer and Colony, it can go either way,” Dahl said.

Palmer beat Colony 42-0 in the first game of the series in 1992. Colony scored its first win over Palmer, 31-30, in 1997.

Throughout the years, Dahl said Colony has established rivalries with programs outside of the Mat-Su, like South Anchorage. But it’s not the same, he said. Even if Colony has to rotate and play Palmer one year and Wasilla the next, those are the dates circled on the calendar.

“Every year, we’re playing one or the other. It’s our Super Bowl,” Dahl said.

Extra yards

Palmer needed 14 unanswered points to score the 14-7 come-from-behind win over the Knights last week. Both Moose touchdowns came in the fourth quarter. Nollege Price reached the end zone for Palmer from 10 yards out midway through the fourth. Sawyer Wilhelm notched the two-point conversion to give Palmer an 8-7 lead. Sawyer Leingang added to the lead with a 3-yard score late in the game.

Colony had a big play in the first quarter. Kai Anderson-Berghoff grabbed a Trayvon Lott pass and took it 99 yards for a touchdown to give the Knights a 7-0 lead.

Both Palmer and Colony entered the game 2-0 on the season.

In other prep football action, Wasilla improved to 3-0 with a 21-14 win over Kenai, Barrow beat Houston 48-12, and Redington suffered a 28-7 loss to Chugiak.

Palmer Invite slated for Saturday

The George Plumley Palmer Invitational cross-country running race is Saturday on the Michael Janecek Running Trails at Palmer High School.

Athletes from more than 30 schools, on and off the road system, will compete. The varsity girls and boys races are scheduled for 11 and 11:45 a.m.

The Palmer Invite is now named in honor of George Plumley, a Palmer High School graduate and longtime supporter and timer of local youth, high school and community running events. Plumley is credited with taking local races from tabulating results with pen and paper to the digital age. Plumley died in 2019 after a battle with cancer.

Jeremiah Bartz is a longtime local journalist based in Palmer and has been a sportswriter in Alaska for nearly three decades. He writes about student activities for the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District, where he works full-time as a community relations coordinator.