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They fumbled, they bumbled, but they did not stumble - technically.

The Juneau-Douglas football team came out on top 22-19 in a turnover-filled final regular season game at Palmer's Colony High School on Saturday night.

However, the Crimson Bears (4-4 overall, 4-2 Railbelt) fell behind the Knights (4-2 Railbelt) in the standings after surrendering a late Hail Mary touchdown pass that pushed JDHS behind Colony in points allowed on the season. Juneau-Douglas will make the playoffs, but it will be forced to travel to Fairbanks and face undefeated North Pole next weekend as the Railbelt's fourth seed.

The Bears led Colony 22-12 with less than two minutes left in the fourth and appeared poised to grab third place and travel to 4-2 Palmer for a first-round matchup. Then, Colony quarterback Colin Murphy began lofting long passes, with his first dropping to the ground after Juneau's Colin Maaka and Alex Fagerstrom collided to miss a sure interception. Murphy connected on his next pass for a long touchdown and the extra point pushed his team ahead of the Bears in the overall standings.

After Colony failed to recover an onside kick, Juneau-Douglas began its final drive at midfield and with 1 minute 22 seconds left in the game, but chose to kneel and run out the clock rather than try for a score that could have bumped them up in the standings.

Fagerstrom, who recently converted from quarterback to running back, led the way for the surging Crimson Bears with a whopping 191 yards from scrimmage, just 54 short of the school's all-time record for a game. He also scored the Bears' first two touchdowns of the game, getting his first with 6:16 left in the second quarter. The extra point put Juneau up 6-7, due to a missed extra point after Colony's first-quarter touchdown.

Fagerstrom scored again on a run to the outside from three yards out in the final seconds of the first half. A two-point conversion from quarterback Dakotah Smith put Juneau ahead 15-6.

Alex's younger brother Eric Fagerstrom picked up a rushing touchdown of his own, darting in from four yards out with 4:57 left in the third. The extra point put the Bears ahead 22-6.

A long touchdown pass on a fake screen pulled Colony within 22-12 midway through the third quarter. Just a few minutes later, Murphy started lofting long passes.

JDHS fumbled four times on the night, including twice within Colony's 20-yard line, losing the ball all four times.

Look for full stats and scoring in Monday's Juneau Empire.

• Contact Trent Makela at 523-2228 or sports@juneauempire.com.

Editor’s note: Juneau's win against Colony actually created a three-way tie for second-place, with Palmer, Colony and Juneau all finishing 4-2 in the Railbelt Conference. The first tiebreaker, defensive points allowed in conference, went to Palmer, which earned the second seed and will host Juneau in the playoffs. Colony finished as the conference's No. 4 seed and will face North Pole.