Special teams had a special night to help the West Eagles into the semifinals of the state football playoffs for the seventh straight year.
The Eagles blocked four punts and kicked two field goals to take down Colony 28-21 in a dramatic quarterfinal game Friday night in Palmer.
West preserved the victory with a game-ending sack of Colony quarterback Parker Kizer, who helped engineer two straight touchdowns in the fourth quarter to make things close.
Next up for defending state champion West is the winner of Saturday's game between Bartlett and Wasilla.
The Eagles (6-3), the No. 3 seed from the Cook Inlet Conference, scored 28 straight points to take command of the game in the middle two quarters.
But Colony (6-3), the No. 2 seed from the Railbelt Conference, overcame numerous setbacks to give West a scare at the end.
Lifted by Dawson Nash's eight-yard run, the Knights took a 7-0 lead into the second quarter despite three first-quarter turnovers, all of them fumbles.
West answered with a short touchdown run by Lazono Martin and a 23-yard field goal by Jared Harjehausen to grab a 10-7 halftime lead.
[In an offensive shootout, Service rides defense past Chugiak and into semifinals]
The Eagles shined on special teams to dominate the third quarter. West blocked four straight Colony punts, three times parlaying the big plays into points.
The first blocked punt led to a one-yard touchdown run by Martin. The second set up Qyntyn Pilcher's 24-yard touchdown pass to Blake Despain. And the fourth was recovered in the end zone for a safety.
All of that powered West to a 25-7 lead after three quarters. The Eagles made it 28-7 on Harjehaussen's 42-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter.
Colony bounced back with a pair of touchdown runs by Nash to cut West's lead to 28-21. The second of those touchdowns came with five minutes left in the game.
Both of Nash's fourth-quarter scores followed gutsy moves by the Knights. The first came after Kizer completed a pass to Jonathan Pomrenke on Fourth-and-6, and the second came after Colony recovered its own an onside kick.
Trailing by one touchdown, Colony got the ball back two more times in the final 3:36. The Knights began their final possession with 64 seconds left and managed to get two first downs, the second coming on a Kizer-to-Pomrenke pass with 17 seconds left, before West's defense came up big.
Following an incomplete pass, Kizer had the ball with 10 seconds left when the Eagles sacked him to end the game.
[East makes it an all-CIC football semifinals with win over Lathrop]
[Bartlett ground game stomps Wasilla for 508 yards and a 62-12 playoff win]