Photo by Christine Vreeman
It was a good year to be Knight football fan. A 6’2” 230-pound senior running back named Matt Kolling was a beast to tackle, Trenton Hyland was the QB, and Kingsland ripped to a 14-0 record including wins over Triton in the state semifinals and Breckinridge 22-3 in the Class B state championship game. The year was 1995. That was the last time a Kingsland football team went 8-0 in the regular season. That is, until this season. The 2023 Knights whipped Lanesboro 57-12 to close out the regular season at home on senior night. Kingsland had a 37-point second quarter after leading 6-0 after one. Senior tailback Beau Wiersma (18-181, 3 TDs rushing) and sophomore QB Kaaleem Reiland (7-148, TD rushing, 5-12, 74 yards, TD, INT passing) carried the biggest loads. But team double-K also got scores from Ayden Howard (2-65, TD receiving), Bentley Wiersma (rushing TD), Caden Reiter (rushing TD), and Sam Snitker (8-yard TD run). Lanesboro was led by Mason Howard (5-13, 132 yards, TD passing, TD rushing), Cole Sass (2-88, TD receiving, 6-24 rushing), and Kaden Stettler (2-40 receiving). No Burro topped 30 yards rushing. The Knight defense registered nine tackles for loss in limiting their rushing attack. Kingsland ran for over 400 yards for the third time this year, as they have put up over 2,700 yards on the ground for the season. The win gives the Knights their first out-right or shared conference/sub-district title since 1995. Kingsland (7-0, 8-0) is Section 1 9-Man’s 1-seed, will host 8-seed Lanesboro (1-6, 1-7) again in the quarterfinals.