A thriller in Anchorage and an upset in the Valley rewarded fans who ignored the rain to watch high school football Friday night.
Service used two clutch plays from Gil Williams, who denied Dimond twice on point-after conversion attempts, to beat the Lynx 14-12 in a Cook Inlet Conference game at Dimond Alumni Field.
And Wasilla used three touchdowns from Devin Otto and three from Mosiah Renk to throttle fifth-ranked Colony 50-20 at Wasilla's Veterans Memorial Field.
Dimond (2-4 overall, 1-4 CIC) scored with less than two minutes remaining and had a chance to tie the game with a two-point PAT, but Williams forced a fumble on the point-after play to save Service (4-2, 3-2).
Dimond's Cedarian Brunell returned an interception 99 yards for a touchdown with 1:23 left, cutting Service's lead to 14-12. But as quarterback Jeremiah Macalino-Maga looked to pass for the two-point conversion, Williams got to him and forced a fumble.
The Cougars recovered the ensuing onside kick to preserve the win.
Williams was the hero of the night. He spoiled both of Dimond's PAT attempts. When the Lynx took an early lead on Macalino-Maga's quarterback sneak late in the first quarter, Williams blocked the point-after kick.
That allowed Service to grab a 7-6 lead on Zyrelle Jones' one-yard run and Steve Beelman's PAT kick in the second quarter.
With less than a second left in the third quarter, Jones hit Emetrius McLeod with a 19-yard pass and Beelman booted the PAT to put the Cougars ahead 14-6.
In the Valley, Wasilla celebrated homecoming by racking up its first home-field win over Colony since 2002.
Otto and Renk each rushed for more than 200 yards for the Warriors, who improved to 4-2 overall and 2-1 in the Railbelt Conference.
Otto gave the large home crowd plenty to cheer about on the opening drive, toting the rock eight times on an 9-play, 68-yard scoring drive and scoring on a 3-yard run with 4:39 left in the first.
Renk added his first score near the end of the quarter, busting a 24-yard run that made it 14-0.
Colony (4-2, 1-2) fumbled the ball away on the third play of its next drive, and Renk made the Knights pay with a wild 55-yard touchdown run on Wasilla's first play after the turnover. Renk appeared to be stopped in the backfield, but cut all the way back across the field, made several Knights miss and found pay dirt to make it 21-0 at halftime.
Wasilla outgained Colony 186-16 in the first half, holding the Knights to minus-19 yards in the second quarter. Otto and Renk were a two-headed monster in the half, with Otto going for 101 yards and Renk adding 83.
Renk started the second half with a big kickoff return to the Colony 41, and Otto scampered 41 yards for a touchdown on Wasilla's first play from scrimmage for a 29-0 Wasilla lead.
Colony cut Wasilla's lead to 29-7 on its next drive, getting a 23-yard touchdown pass from Steven Bilafer to Tucker Looney with 9:16 left in the third.Renk again put on a show on the Warriors' next possession, weaving back and forth through the defense on his way to a 64-yard touchdown run that made it 36-7.
Colony answered quickly. Bilafer hit Robert Nash with a 5-yard scoring pass on fourth-and-goal to cap a 7-yard drive set up by a 64-yard kickoff return by Jarod Ruffing late in the third.
Otto put the Warriors up 43-14 early in the fourth quarter when he busted a 12-yard touchdown run on fourth down.
Bilafer used his legs to cut Wasilla's lead once again, keeping the ball on the option for a 29-yard score.
Otto capped the scoring with a 15-yard touchdown run late in the fourth.