Two teams showed in 1995 how quickly things can change

50 years in the making: Kingsland and Cromwell turned bad starts into championship finishes.

By Ron Haggstrom Star Tribune

November 8, 2022 — 11:43pm

The Star Tribune is celebrating 50 years of high school football state tournaments one day at a time for 50 days.

Year: 1995

"You can't put something like this into words." — Cromwell coach Keith Bergstedt

Quick changes of fortune propelled two schools — Kingsland in Class B and Cromwell in Nine-Man — to their initial state championships in 1995.

Kingsland quarterback Trenton Hyland didn't get off to the kind of started he would have liked, throwing an interception on the Knights' second play and losing a fumble on their fourth. He scored on a 16-yard run and returned an interception 36 yards for a touchdown with 1 minute, 23 seconds left in the first half, carrying unbeaten Kingsland to a 22-3 triumph over Breckenridge. Kingsland finished 14-0.

"I saw him [quarterback Jeremy Breuer] scrambling over to my side and was shadowing one of their guys," Hyland said. "I don't think their quarterback saw me. And Chad Nolte threw a great block to help me get in the end zone."

Kingsland controlled the ball throughout the second half, holding a two-to-one ratio in time of possession after halftime. The Knights put the game out of reach on their opening possession of the third quarter, marching 77 yards on 15 plays that consumed 7:37 on the clock.

"That interception took the fizzle out of us," Breckenridge coach Terry Horan said. "In the second half, they just had the ball all the time."

For Cromwell, an outstanding defensive play ignited a late rally. The Cardinals scored twice in the final six minutes, rallying for a 26-18 victory over LeRoy-Ostrander.

LeRoy-Ostrander took over deep in its own territory, leading 18-12 with just over six minutes left in the game. Halfback Jeremy Hammon found a hole over the left side and broke into the defensive secondary. Cromwell senior defensive end Brian Granholm reached in from behind and stripped Hammon of the ball. Granholm picked it up and ran it back 10 yards, giving Cromwell new life at the LeRoy-Ostrander 13-yard line.

"I took a gamble reaching for it, but it worked," Granholm said.

Two plays and 16 seconds later, Cromwell fullback Tyler Homstad burst through the defense for a 4-yard touchdown. Cromwell passed for a two-point conversion and led 20-18. Quarterback Dean Nyberg added a 17-yard scoring run with 35 seconds remaining.

"The kids never got down," Cromwell coach Keith Bergstedt said.

Stillwater scored 10 points in the last three seconds of the first half to take a 17-point lead and cruised to a 31-7 triumph over Rochester Mayo in Class AA. Aaron Runk, a senior running back, scored three touchdowns for the Ponies, two on short runs and a third on a 31-yard punt return. He finished his career with 55 touchdowns.

"There were some unusual plays in this game that I still don't know what happened on them," Stillwater coach George Thole said. "... But this has got to be the best defense we've ever had."