It had been a while since his first-minute breakaway gallop and touchdown. But when Spring Grove’s Hunter Holland finally broke free a second time, it was truly a last-minute backbreaker and heartbreaker for the Kingsland bench and fans who had the closest view of his game-stealing sprint down the visitors’ sideline. The 165-pound speedster took a pitchout, cut inside of a clearing block from wide receiver Jaxon Strinmoen and raced untouched 48 yards to the end zone to put Spring Grove ahead 20-19 with just 32 seconds to play. That would be the final score on October 15 Parents Night at Blayne Onsgard Field.
Photo by Lee Epps
That fourth down-and-two scamper was one of two fourth-down, game-saving plays that allowed the Lions to erase a 12-point deficit by scoring twice in the final four minutes. Facing a more challenging fourth-and-nine, Elijah Solum hit a leaping Tysen Grinde with a 29-yard pass down to the Kingsland 10 yard-line. Two snaps later, Grinde managed to pull his right arm from the grasp of a Knight defender – just in time to secure a 10-yard touchdown pass in the back corner of the end zone. That made moot the pass-interference penalty flag, but the Lions still trailed 19-14 with 3:56 on the fourth-quarter clock.
After forcing a short punt, the Grove guys got the ball back with1:10 remaining 56 yards from the goal line. An 8-yard completion to Grinde got things going on first down, then two incomplete passes preceded Holland’s fourth down TD delivery. The Knights then had only 28 seconds to rally and did complete a 23-yard pass before time ran out with Logan Brumm batting down a halfback pass in the backfield.
Spring Grove had scored the first touchdown before adding the last two. Long before Grinde and Solum exchanged positions in the fourth quarter, the first play of the game was a Grinde-to-Caleb Griffin 20-yard pass. Two plays later, Holland bolted 21 yards down to the 2 yard-line, setting up his 4-yard touchdown carry. Griffin booted the extra point and it was 7-0 just two-and-half minutes into the game.
Kingsland came right back with a 14-play drive that got as far as the Lion 13 yard-line before Strinmoen intercepted a fourth-down pass at the 3 yard-stripe.
But the Lion offense next went three-and-out before self-destructing with four consecutive turnovers. The boys came into the game with the next-to-worst turnover ratio in the nine-team league before losing two fumbles and then having two passes picked off before halftime.
After falling on fumbles at the Lion 35 and 41 yard-lines, the Knights would score twice on a 3-yard run (James Howard) and 7-yard pass (Kale Mensink to Mason Kolling). Kingsland went into intermission with that 14-7 lead.
The second half started with another Spring Grove string of self-destruction when a high punt snap went into the Lion end zone for a safety (KHS 16, SG 7). Howard returned the ensuing free kick 29 yards to the Lion 35, before 25 yards of penalties moved the Knights down to the 11. But the Grove defense stiffened and forced a 25-yard field goal from Sebastien Jakobson, making the score 19-7. Giving up only three points instead of a touchdown would be a major factor in the Lions later being able to overtake the visitors.
The kicking game would then be critical as the Kingsland kickoff pinned the Lions on their own 19. But Spring Grove would win the punting duel. A 30-yard Lion drive that ended on downs and a 34-yard punt from Spring Grove freshman Gavin Ostern provided favorable field position that the Knights would be unable to reverse with shorter 20, 13 and 23-yard punts. The Lions’ two game-saving drives covered 40 and 56 yards.
For the first time this season, Spring Grove gained more yards on the ground (120) than in the air (74). Holland gained 90 yards on 11 carries with two touchdowns. Grinde carried 19 times for 61 yards and completed 5 of 16 passes for 27 yards. After the fourth-quarter position swap, Grinde became the leading receiver with 3 catches for 47 yards and a touchdown. Solum who had caught a pair of Grinde passes, would then complete 3 of 7 tosses – all to Grinde for those 47 yards and the score. With snaps from Jacob Olerud, Solum held while Griffin was perfect on his two extra-point kicks.
For Kingsland, Mensink – who came in with the league’s best quarterback passing rating, -completed 6 of 12 tosses for 49 yards with one interception and one touchdown. The Knights outgained Grove. 241 yards to 194. But if not for the errant punt snap (minus-30 yards), the total yardage would have been almost as close as the score. Both squads had 12 first downs.
The Lions scored three touchdowns to Kingsland’s two. But talk about a rare scoreboard occurrence – for the second straight game a Spring Grove opponent scored with both a field goal and a safety. Defenses had delivered for much of the contest with only five plays covering 20 yards or more (SG 4, KHS 1). The longest gainer for Kingsland, a 23-yard pass, came three plays before the final whistle. All four of Grove’s big-yardage plays came during the three scoring drives.
It was only the third all-time meeting between the Lions and Knights. Spring Grove has taken all three, the first two by comfortable 28 and 26-point margins. But to salvage this one-pointer, the boys in black had to overcome five fumbles and four turnovers. With the home team trailing by 12 points deep into the fourth period, the prospects had progressively grown dim until the final frantic four minutes and a pair of fourth-down thrills.
Then the “Friday night lights” burned longer than usual at Blayne Onsgard Field as the team and a large gathering of fans and families lingered long at midfield to celebrate the stunning last-minute win as well as the final home appearance for three seniors. Camron Kraus and Carson Gerard had seen action, but Reid Bjerke had watched from the sideline after a season-ending injury in the previous game. All evening, it had been a never-say-die team and an enthusiastic Parents Night crowd, which at the finish, were not eager to see the homefield lights dim for the last time in 2021.
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SG—-7—0—0–13 = 20
KHS–0 -14—5—0 = 19
Team totals
YARDAGE (rush+pass)
SG 194 (120+74), KHS 241 (193+48)
RUSHING: att.-yards (avg.)
SG 32-120 (3.8) 2 TD; KHS 44-193 (4.4) TD
PASSES: comp-att-int, yds. (TD): SG 8-23-2, 74 yds., TD; KHS 7-14-1, 48 yds., TD
Sacks allowed: SG 1, KHS 2
TOUCHDOWNS: SG 2 rush, 1 pass; KHS 1 rush, 1 pass
EXTRA POINTS: SG 2-3 (2-2 kick, 0-1 pass); KHS 2-2 (2-2 kick)
TOTAL PLAYS: SG 55, KHS 58
AVG. yards per play: SG 3.5, KHS 4.2
FUMBLES – LOST: SG 5-2, KHS 2-0
TURNOVERS: SG 4, KHS 1
PENALTIES: SG 4-35, KHS 12-68
3rd downs: SG 3 for 10, KHS 2 for 12
4th downs: SG 2 for 4, KHS 1 for 3
Red zone: SG 2 for 4, KHS 3 for 3
First downs: SG 12, KHS 12
Plays of 20+ yards: SG 4, KHS 1
LION INDIVIDUALS:
RUSHING 32-120: Hunter Holland 11-90, 2TD; Tysen Grinde 190-61; Elijah Solum 1-(-1); am 1-(-30)
PASSING: Tysen Grinde 5-16-2, 27 yds.; Elijah Solum 3-7-0, 47 yds., TD
RECEIVING 8-74: Tysen Grinde 3-47, TD=; Caleb Griffin 1-20; Carson Gerard 2-12; Elijah Solum 2-(-5)
KICKOFF RETURNS: Tysen Grinde 2-59
PUNT RETURNS: Tysen Grinde 2-28
SCORING: Hunter Holland 12, Tysen Grinde 6, Caleb Griffin 2
PUNTING: Gavin Ostern 2-60 (30.0)
INTERCEPTIONS: Jaxon Strinmoen 1-3 yds.
PASS BREAKUPS: Logan Brumm 1, Jaxon Strinmoen 1
FUMBLE RECOVERIES: none
FUMBLES FORCED: none
SACKS 2: Ty Cleven 1, Carson Gerard 1
TACKLES for LOSS (incl. sacks) 7: Ty Cleven 2.5 ; Jacob Olerud 1.0; Tysen Grinde 1.0; Caleb Griffin 1.0; Carson Gerard 1.0 ; Gavin Ostern 0.5
TACKLES (solo + assists): Elijah Solum 17 (7+10); Carson Gerard 12 (6+6); Tysen Grinde 9 (5+4); Logan Brumm 7 (4+3); Caleb Griffin 6 (5+1); Jacob Olerud 6 (1+5); Jaxon Strinmoen 5 (3+2); Gavin Ostern 5 (3+2); Noah Blackburn 4 (0+4); Ty Cleven 3 (2+1); Emmett Engeldinger 3 (0+3); Camron Kraus 1 (0+1)
Spring Grove football 2021
>>>>3-3 (3-3 sub-district)
7:00 p.m. kickoff unless noted (series records go back to 1949)
W at Houston 14-0 (Lions lead series 43-30-2)
Sat. Sept. 11 Lyle/Pacelli, CANCELED – Lions have won last 14, lead series 17-2)
W 28-26 at Mabel-Canton (Lions have won last 17; Cougars lead series 36-26)
L vs. Grand Meadow 17-20 (GM has won the last four; GM leads series 35-10)
L vs. Southland 14-46 (Rebels lead series 11-3)
L at LeRoy-Ostrander 6-46 (Cardinals have won the last three, lead series 15-13)
W vs. Kingsland (Lions lead series 3-0)
Wed. Oct. 20 at Lanesboro (Burros won last year 36-14; Lions lead series 27-22-3)
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>>B-team football (2 wins, 1 loss)
at Mabel-Canton, canceled
at Kingsland, canceled
Mabel-Canton, canceled
W at Houston 20-12
W at Grand Meadow 32-6
L vs. Lanesboro 6-30
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>>Junior high football (2 wins, 2 losses)
W vs. LeRoy-Ostrander 40-33
Mon. Sept. 13 at Kingsland, canceled
L vs. Mabel-Canton 25-32 (storm ended game in second half)
W at Houston 39-6
L vs. Lanesboro 13-20
Mon. Oct. 18 at Southland