Red. Blue. Green. Yellow. And oh, that wily, pinky-bending orange!

It was showtime - the first-ever "Guitar Hero 2" tournament in Juneau. A packed crowd stood by eagerly, awaiting the coronation of their new axe-god.

In the end, 24-year-old Drew Pawlik, an employee with Resource Data Inc., was that man.

The University of Alabama graduate tallied 158,171 points on an expert-level rendition of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Freebird" and fended off a late charge by 22-year-old, L.A. educated Libby "The Destroyer" Sterling (126,724 points).

Korry Keeker / Juneau Empire   Drew Pawlik stands triumphantly after fending off Libby Sterling, right, in the evening's final.

"It was a blast though," Sterling said. "I would do it again in a heartbeat."

"I was nervous at first," Pawlik said, "but my friends kept telling me I would do all right."

How right they were!

Pawlik moved to town in April 2006, after five years in Tuscaloosa. This was his first "Guitar Hero" tourney, having started playing the game on the Xbox 360 just four months ago, after some prompting from his brothers - Greg, 19, and Ryan, 21.

Pawlik struggled to master the game at first. But as his brothers offered tips on hand-position and strumming, Pawlik's game improved considerably.

"I'm more into first-person shooters," Pawlik said. "We have a lot of the same interests, and they just figured I'd like this. It turns out that I do."

It turns out that the entire Pawlik clan loves the game. All seven of his siblings play, as do his mother and father.

"Neither of my parents ever liked video games, but they both love this one," Pawlik said. "I'm not sure why. I guess it lets out your inner rock star."

Korry Keeker / Juneau Empire   Ray Zimmer stares at the big-screen in his critical semifinal skirmish against Sterling.

The plastic guitar-controllers have five colored frets - red, orange, green, yellow and blue. You fret a note (a single color) or a chord (a combination of colors) and strum a plastic tab as the color combinations scroll down the screen to form rhythms and melodies. Points multiply as you roll off streaks of notes and chords.

"I'm a musician, but I'm really not that good," said Geoff Kirsch, a 31-year-old Juneau resident who advanced as far as Friday's semifinals. "I would love to go out on stage and rip it up on a guitar, but I can't really.

"Suddenly, you're able to," he said. "If you turn it up all the way and you're really hitting it, it really seems like you're playing the song. That's what was so cool at the bar... It's a really true simulator."

Friday night's 16-player, single-elimination-bracket competition began with a seeding round in which all of the players played Dick Dale's surf hit "Misirlou" on medium level.

The first round passed with no upsets. All eight of the top seeds advanced, most without challenge. At one point, the fourth-seeded Sterling strummed with her ass.

It was the quarterfinals where things started to come into focus. Ray Zimmer struggled, but knocked off eighth-seeded Erin Mulkey on Freezepop's "Less Talk, More Rokk." Pawlik advanced with a solid showing on Strong Bad's short "Trogdor."

Kirsch moved into the semifinals, beating Ashton Allen on "YYZ." And Sterling chose "Six" by All That Remains for her quarterfinal victory against fifth-seeded Scott Ranney. It was a bold call, and one that troubled Pawlik.

"That's when I really got nervous, watching her play that," he said. "Nobody ever gets a high score in tournaments. And my high score on that song is quite a bit lower than what she got."

The semifinals escalated to expert level, and Sterling continued her dominance. She ran up 143,312 points on Danzig's "Mother," while top-seeded Zimmer managed just 68,680.

Afterward, a forlorn Zimmer offered just two bitter words:

"She cheated," he said.

Korry Keeker / Juneau Empire   Pawlik and Sterling concentrate in the opening minute of the championship.

"He scared me, picking that song," Pawlik said. "I've only played it once or twice. I thought I was going to miss a lot of notes."

"He said to me, 'I don't even know that song,'" Kirsch said.

But Pawlik made do on pure talent alone. He wracked up a stunning 209,115 points, quickly leaving Kirsch (140,516) behind.

That set up a championship match between Pawlik and Sterling - to be played to the tune of the 9-minute, 20-second "Freebird" on expert level. It's a song that Pawlik had played "not a whole lot."

"Coming from Alabama, it's one of those songs I like," he said. "I've played it on hard and medium level, not on expert. There's a couple parts I just have trouble with."

Pawlik sailed out to a roughly 5,000-point lead in the opening minutes of the song. But as the extremely difficult solo approached, the crowd waited for Sterling to make her move.

She didn't disappoint, quickly slicing Pawlik's lead in half. At moments in the solo, he was unable to keep up.

"Man, that part is rough," Pawlik said. "There's a couple parts on that song where I just have trouble... I knew I had to pick it up. I hate to lose at anything."

As the tempo slowed - somewhat - Pawlik recovered and slowly re-established his lead. Both players appeared to be affected by the fading batteries. Pawlik's longest successful-note streak was just 59, and Sterling's was an atypically low 41.

"Yeah, (the batteries) were running out," Pawlik said. "You would press a key and strum, and it wouldn't do anything... It added an element of surprise."

"I was just really excited," Sterling said. "I still wish I could have rematched him with guitars that work. 'Freebird' is such a fun one to play."

• Korry Keeker can be reached at 523-2268 or korry.keeker@juneauempire.com.

'GUITAR hero 2' TOURNAMENT RESULTS

(Friday, Sept. 21, 2007, at the Rendezvous)

Seeding round, medium level, everyone played "Misirlou"

1. Ray Zimmer, 107,093; 2. Korry Keeker, 100,073; 3. Geoff Kirsch, 95,058; 4. Libby Sterling, 85,840.

5. Scott Ranney, 83,916; 6. Ashton Allen, 74,621; 7. Drew Pawlik, 71,122; 8. Erin Mulkey, 60,684.

9. Jacob Caggiano, 56,880; 10. Conor Maguire, 54,914; 11. Bryan Hamey, 46,380; 12. Jesse Guy, 37,617.

13. Melissa Ponchene, 20,904; 14. Ross (showed up late); 15. Karin Gittins (showed up late); 16. Reed Harris, 750.

First Round, hard level

No. 1 Ray Zimmer (43,589) d. No. 16 Reed Harris (2,229).

No. 8 Erin Mulkey (77,491) d. No. 9 Jacob Caggiano (56,364), "War Pigs."

No. 4 Libby Sterling (157,593) d. No. 13 Melissa Ponchene (37,406), "Crazy On You."

No. 5. Scott Ranney (song did not finish) d. No. 12 Jesse Guy (song did not finish), "Sweet Child Of Mine."

No. 2 Korry Keeker (100,395) d. No. 15 Karin Gittins (87,350), "Strutter."

No. 7 Drew Pawlik (199,480) d. No. 10 Conor Maguire (46,997), "Carry On My Wayward Son."

No. 3 Geoff Kirsch (180,463) d. No. 14 Ross (25,284), "Message In a Bottle."

No. 6 Ashton Allen (55,587) d. No. 11 Bryan Hamey (43,940), "Woman."

Quarterfinals, hard level

No. 1 Ray Zimmer (68,175) d. No. 8. Erin Mulkey (47,891), "Less Talk, More Rokk."

No. 4 Libby Sterling (177,359) d. No. 5 Scott Ranney (73,908), "Six."

No. 7 Drew Pawlik (79,225) d. No. 2 Korry Keeker (57,141), "Trogdor."

No. 3 Geoff Kirsch (109,326) d. No. 6 Ashton Allen (60,805), "YYZ."

Semifinals, expert level

No. 4. Libby Sterling (143,312) d. No. 1 Ray Zimmer (68,680), "Mother."

No. 7. Drew Pawlik (209,115) d. No. 3 Geoff Kirsch (140,516), "Can't You Hear Me Knocking."

Championship, expert level

No. 7 Drew Pawlik (158,171, 69 percent, 59-note streak) d. No. 4 Libby Sterling (126,724, 62 percent, 41-note streak), "Freebird."