Kasson-Mantorville Advances to Prep Bowl

The Kasson-Mantorville KoMets erased a 10-0 halftime deficit tonight against the top ranked Becker Bulldogs advancing to the Prep Bowl with a 24-20 win.

The final score from the KoMets came with 9 seconds to go in the game.  A 7 yard pass from Matthew Donovan to Brooks Buchanan.

I had a feeling Donovan (5’10, 170 lbs) would be tough to deal with in US Bank Stadium.  He is so fast and shifty.  The senior rushed for 134 yards and two scores and threw for 66 yards and the game winning touchdown.

The most exciting high school football game I had the pleasure of broadcasting this year was the 43-42 KoMets win over Faribault at KM Telecom Stadium in Kasson.

Lots of offense.  Both teams went up and down the field.  Donovan ran for two scores of over 70 yards in the game.

Donovan’s longest run was 19 yards against Becker however he had a 40 yard punt return in the game.  He amassed 276 all-purpose yards of the 398 the KoMets tallied.

The Bulldogs took the lead with 90 seconds left in the game on a 26 yard field goal.

Kasson-Mantorville drove 80 yards in 1:21 on 12 plays to score the victory.

Statistics were as close as the score with the KoMets achieving 16 first downs, Becker 15.  K-M had 189 yards rushing while the Bulldogs achieved 139 yards.

Passing yards were 132 for Becker, 66 for Kasson-Mantorville.  Time of possession ended 24:43 for the KoMets, 23:17 for the Bulldogs.

Becker finished with 271 total yards, Kasson-Mantorville 255 yards in total offense.

The statistic of the game may have been third down conversions.  Becker was 1 of 8 while K-M was 7 of 16.

Carter Callahan had 106 yards rushing for the top rated Bulldogs.  The KoMets were rated #9 in the final Class 4A football rankings by the Minnesota Associated Press.

Defensively Dominic Mann (5’10, 160, So.) and Owen Bradford (6’3, 200 Sr,) led K-M with 8 tackles each.  Kellen Wilke (6’1, 205 Sr.) added 7 and Gavin Giesler (6’2, 195, Sr.) had 5.

Becker took a 10-0 lead on a 36 yard field goal to end the first half.  Alex Donovan (5’9s, 160, So.)  put the first points on the board for Kasson-Mantorville with 5:31 to go in the third quarter when he booted a 21 yard field goal to cap a 12 play 57 yard drive that ate up 6:22,

With 2:58 to go in the third quarter the Bulldogs answered with a 34 yard touchdown pass to take a 17-3 lead.  The play of the game may have been a Giesler interception return all the way to the Becker 3 yard line.

Donovan scored on a run on 4th and goal from the 3 to make the score 17-10.

Early in the 4th quarter Becker was held and punted that’s when Donovan had his 40 yard return to the Becker 27 yard line.  He would score with 6:38 to go in the game and with the extra point the score was tied at 17 setting up the thrilling finish.

The other semifinals game is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Saturday with Orono (6-6) going up against Hutchinson (10-1).  The Tigers were ranked #2 in the final Minnesota AP poll.  They ended the Faribault Falcons season in the Section 2 Class 4A title game in Hutchinson.

Southeastern Minnesota did very well in semifinals action today.  Leroy-Ostrander ran away 49-0 from  Kittson County Central in 9-man football.  The Cardinals will play either #5 ranked Fertile-Beltrami or Hills-Beaver Creek in the Prep Bowl next weekend.

In Class 2A Chatfield edged Barnesville 22-18. Chatfield was #7 in the final Class 2A rankings.  The other semifinals game is #11 ranked Maple River playing West Central Area/Ashby at 11:30 Friday morning.

These photos are awesome.

These should have you smiling,

KEEP READING: Here are 50 of the most famous sports goofs