The transitive property of equality is that if two things are each equal to a third thing, they must be equal to each other.
If one were to use that fundamental mathematical principle — often referenced as if A=B and B=C then A=C — entering Thursday’s Class 4A state football quarterfinal, things did not look promising for Hill-Murray but did for Kasson-Mantorville.
That’s because the KoMets overcame an 11-point halftime deficit to take down top-ranked Byron 31-28 in last week’s section title game. Byron crushed Hill-Murray by 36 points in mid-September.
At Stillwater High School, the principle held up.
Jeremiah Peterson ran for two scores and had a touchdown catch, Keymoni Bent returned an interception 100 yards for a touchdown and Kasson-Mantorville beat the Pioneers 35-21.
With the win, the KoMets (10-1) will play Grand Rapids in a state semifinal at 11:30 a.m. Nov. 14 at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Grady Buettner ran for 204 yards and a touchdown for Hill-Murray (9-2), which also got a touchdown reception from Caden Harrington.
The game’s biggest play came in the final 30 seconds of the opening half.
Trailing 14-6, Hill-Murray looked for the equalizer from the Kasson-Mantorville 9-yard line. Brayden Hartmann’s throw was headed for a receiver in the end zone, but Bent got in the way.
With the ball in his arms and plenty of green in front of him, the sophomore sped down the KoMets’ sideline, made a move inside the Pioneer 40 to deke a final tackler and dashed across the other goal line.
Hill-Murray’s first five drives of the first half all got inside the Kasson-Mantorville 25, but the Pioneers scored just six points via 40- and 30-yard field goals from Evan Curtis. They lost a fumble at the 2 on their third drive, had a field-goal attempt blocked on the fourth and then came Bent’s pick-6.
Bent returned the second-half kickoff into Hill-Murray territory. Three plays later, Logan Louks scored from 41 yards out on 3rd-and-11 to make it 28-6 KoMets.
Buettner scored from the 1 to get the Pioneers within 28-14 with 3:21 left in the third quarter, but Peterson went for 65 yards to the end zone on the opening play of the ensuing Kasson-Mantorville drive.
Harrington’s 55-yard touchdown reception opened the fourth.
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