For any team in any sport that’s ever been down in the
dumps with seemingly little reason to be hopeful, take a look at the 2023
Kingsland High School football team. The Knights are having a dream season and will
take a perfect record of 13-0 into the Nine-Player Prep Bowl championship game
against Nevis on Nov. 25.
Their latest triumph came in Thursday’s state
semifinals at U.S. Bank Stadium, where they defeated Fertile-Beltrami 36-28.
Things, however, weren’t always so rosy and bright for
Kingsland. Go back to the 2012 season … and keep going through the 2016 season.
In fact, stretch your research into the 2017 season and realize this fact: The
Knights did not win even one game in that span, losing 51 times in a row.
And here they are, playing for a state championship.
Go figure.
“These guys
have done everything,” said fourth-year head coach Matt Kolling. “The work they
put in, the time they put in, their passion and love for the game, it is so fun
to see them get this reward. It's so worth it.”
After ending
the long losing streak in 2017 with a Week 8 victory over Hayfield, the Knights
finished with a 1-8 record. They also went 1-8 in 2018 and 2019, and then 1-5
in the Covid-shortened 2020 season. The tide started to turn in 2021 when they
finished 3-6, and in 2022 they climbed another step to a 4-5 finish.
Initially, the
2023 season didn’t look to be off to a great start. In the first game,
Kingsland trailed Mabel-Canton 28-0 before rallying for a 40-34 win. And off
they went, rolling through the year with scores like 63-21, 54-14, 57-0, 54-21,
etc.
Coming out
of always-tough Section 1 in southeast Minnesota, they defeated Lanesboro,
Houston and Spring Grove in the section playoffs by a combined score of 135-42.
The Knights outscored previously unbeaten Hills-Beaver Creek 26-14 in the state
quarterfinals, setting up Thursday’s contest.
Kingsland
ran for 416 yards against Fertile-Beltrami, with Beau Wiersma carrying 29 times
for 297 yards and four touchdowns, and Kaaleem Reiland rushing 20 times for 115
yards. The Knights did not punt, which was no surprise considering that they
have punted only six times all season.
Fertile-Beltrami
(12-1) was no pushover opponent for Kingsland. The Falcons played at U.S. Bank
Stadium for the third year in a row, with their best finish coming in 2021 when
they lost in the Prep Bowl to LeRoy-Ostrander (also from Section 1).
No one will
be surprised to see Fertile-Beltrami making noise in the future. With only two
seniors (Derek Sorenson and Caiden Swenby) on this year’s 37-player roster, the
tradition is strong.
“We've had a
great group of kids here for five, six, seven years,” said 29-year
Fertile-Beltrami coach Brian Nelson. “Hopefully kids don't take this for
granted because it's not something just that happens all the time. This has
been an incredible run.”
This is
Kingsland’s fourth appearance in the state football playoffs, and they won
state titles in the three prior trips. Those came in 1995, 2002 and 2003;
Kolling was a member of the 1995 team.
“Sometimes
it seems like it was yesterday and other days it seems like it was 150 years
ago,” Kolling said. “But I still remember it like it was yesterday a lot of
times, and these kids will do the same in 25, 30 years. There are memories that
don't go away.”
A
Big Day For Nevis
Six years
ago the Nevis Tigers were the Nine-Player state runner-up, losing to Spring
Grove in the Prep Bowl. There are photos of a bunch of little kids getting
autographs from those players in 2017, and many of those kids are now on the
varsity for the unbeaten Tigers.
Nevis
returned to state this year for the first time since that historic run, and
advanced to the Prep Bowl by defeating Otter Tail Central 35-0 Thursday. In the
state quarterfinals last week they beat defending state champ Mountain
Iron-Buhl 12-8.
“They were
sitting there dreaming of being here, and they're here today,” said Nevis coach
Shawn Klimek as he sat next to players Eli Lewis, Eli Klimek (his son) and
Devan Lindow during a postgame interview session in the Vikings media room.
“Eli came
down here and took a tour of U.S. Bank Stadium and he sat right here,” said
Shawn. “It's been his lifelong goal to sit right here. These are special
moments.”
Otter Tail Central, a cooperative team with students
from Henning and Battle Lake, finished with a record of 11-1.
Byron’s Inspirational Coach
After a defensive battle with Rocori that ended in a
7-0 loss for Byron in the Class 4A semifinals, Bears coach Will Halder was in a
celebratory mood. Not because of the final score, of course, but because of
what being together as a team all season has meant.
“It's not
over,” Ben said. “We're going to go eat a team meal together one last time as a
group, and these are the moments that high school sports are about, to be
honest with you. I know we wanted to win a football game, I know Rocori wanted
to win a football game. But for us to be able to go eat a meal together after a
hard-fought battle; that's we've told the kids, this team will never be
together again like this.
“And to get
to have one last meal together and laugh and cry a little bit, it's worth it.
It's what high school sports are about. It's what makes high school football so
special, there's no other game like it and you can spend all 48 minutes giving everything
you’ve got and still come up on the losing end, and have super big respect for
teams like Rocori.”
Halder, in his
eighth season as Byron’s head coach, is an inspirational figure. He lost his
left leg below the knee in a 2005 automobile accident and has a prosthetic. He
grew up in Lake City and played football at Minnesota State Mankato.
Bears senior
Zachary Vanderpool said Halder inspires the team “Every single day. He’s always
holding his head high and he sets a great example for all of us.”
Big Games Are Big News In Small Towns
We all know that the success of a team from a small
town is big news in those places. Jackson County Central will meet Barnesville
in Friday morning’s Class 2A semifinals, and here’s a Tweet that was posted
Thursday by the Jackson County Pilot newspaper account, @PilotSports …
Places I’ve seen announce
they’ll be open and showing the JCC football game Friday morning:
Dudley’s Garage
The Shed
Chill N Grill
Pillars Pub & Eatery
Santee Crossing
Places offering a fan bus:
Salem Lutheran Church
Countryside Plumbing &
Heating
Football State Semifinals
At U.S. Bank Stadium
Thursday
Nine-Player: Kingsland 36,
Fertile-Beltrami 28
Nine-Player: Nevis 35, Ottertail
Central 0
Class 4A: Rocori 7, Byron
Class 6A: Centennial vs.
Lakeville South
Friday
9 a.m. Class 2A: Jackson
County Central vs. Barnesville
11:30 a.m. Class 2A: Cannon
Falls vs. Eden Valley-Watkins
2 p.m. Class 5A: St.
Thomas Academy vs. Alexandria
4:30 p.m. Class 4A: Hutchinson
vs. North Branch
7 p.m. Class 6A: Edina vs.
Eden Prairie
Saturday
9 a.m. Class A: Springfield
vs. Mahnomen-Waubun
11:30 a.m. Class A: Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa
vs. Minneota
2 p.m. Class 3A: Stewartville
vs. Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton
4:30 p.m. Class 3A: Dassel-Cokato
vs. Annandale
7 p.m. Class 5A: Chanhassen
vs. Andover
--MSHSL senior content creator John Millea has been the leading
voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter
@MSHSLjohn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get
podcasts. Contact John at jmillea@mshsl.org
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