KoMets hold off Bears on Homecoming night

Over the past couple of weeks, the Kasson-Mantorville football team had been trending in the wrong direction. While they were riding high after a 3-0 start, back-to-back losses to Stewartville and Rochester Lourdes had the KoMets scratching their heads and wondering what it would take to get back to the level of play they had in the first three weeks.
“Everyone starts questioning what happens after losses and that includes us,” K-M football coach Broc Threinen admitted. “We wanted to make things a little simpler for everyone and create more aggressiveness on both sides of the ball. It was big that we were able to make that happen.”
Thanks to aggressive play on defense and some big plays on offense, the KoMets were able to get a victory on homecoming night as they defeated Byron 33-27. While the end result was great, the start of the game wasn’t a pleasant one for K-M.
Mike Coble was a force for the Bears early in the game as he weaved through the KoMet defense on the ground and was able to make big plays in the air. On the first drive of the game, Coble found Bjorn Knutson for a 63-yard touchdown to give the Bears a 7-0 lead. Late in the second quarter, he’d strike again with a strike to Nick Banfield to make it 13-0 after Noah Ryan blocked the extra point.
Despite the early hole, the confidence of the KoMets didn’t waver.
“The only time that we had punted was on the first drive of the game,” Threinen recalled on his team’s first half performance. “We just killed ourselves with a fumble by the goal line and a big penalty that pushed us back on the other drive.”
With that in mind, the KoMets were aggressive and began to feed Ryan on the ground. While Brady Berge was named the homecoming king earlier in the day, Ryan staked his claim to the title on the gridiron with a performance that included 181 yards on the ground. Such a performance was huge for a K-M offense that was without Brendan Knoll, who was nursing a high ankle sprain.
“Brendan is one of our key players and we all know he’ll be back soon, but you have to make adjustments,” Ryan said. “When you have someone like [Brendan] out, teams will key on you a little more, but you just have to keep your feet moving and good things will happen.”
Ryan would score his first of three touchdowns on the night just before halftime and with a two-point conversion, the KoMets would go into the locker room with a 13-8 deficit. The touchdown would be a turning point, however, as K-M would score 27 unanswered points including two more touchdowns from Ryan and a 62-yard dash by quarterback Matt Winkle.
As the game seemed to be wrapped up with a 27-13 advantage, Byron began to show the resiliency of Michael Myers on the first Friday of October. A long run by Coble would set up Caden Blazing for a two-yard touchdown plunge to make it a 27-20 game, but Winkle would answer with his second rushing touchdown of the game to return it to a two score game after a missed extra point.
Down 33-20 with 2:30 to go, Coble hit another big play throwing to Blazing for a 66-yard connection to bring it within 33-27. After recovering an onside kick, the Bears began to drive down