Mayo football culture on full display in gritty, last second victory over Rosemount

ROCHESTER — The Mayo High School football team has heard plenty of outside noise.

Too small. Not enough depth. Too slow. Not strong enough.

What the naysayers fail to take in account is the culture established by coach Donny Holcomb and his staff — one that prides itself in something that one can't measure: The heart of a champion.

Mighty Rosemount learned first hand on Friday afternoon just how far that can and has taken the Spartans.

Isaiah Beale capped a drive that saw the Spartans convert a pair of fourth-and-longs with the game-winning 1-yard touchdown run with just 14 seconds left as Mayo came away with a gritty 17-14 win over the Irish at Mayo High School.

One could argue it was one of the more impressive wins in recent memory.

"It's all about what's inside your heart," junior quarterback Isaac Peterson said. "It doesn't matter about how small you are. You have heart and dedication, you're going to succeed."

"Every single game we see ourselves as the underdogs," senior lineman Casey Kramer said. "We're well aware — we've been aware since the start of the season that we're going to have the smallest roster out here. We know that those guys are going to be bigger, stronger and possibly faster, but we know that we're going to have to fight through it. We have to use our hearts, our toughness."

That toughness was on full display from the first drive.

The Spartans (2-2) went 15 plays, 72 yards, while taking over 9 minutes off the clock, before Ethan Post knocked home a 27-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead. The defense then came up big multiple times in the first 24 minutes, forcing a turnover on downs in the red zone on the following drive and then coming up big after a blocked punt gave the ball to Rosemount inside the Mayo 40. That's when Griffin Kukla continued his superb season, stepping in front of an intended receiver from his safety spot to intercept a pass and return it over 50 yards inside the Rosemount 30.

Peterson would finish off the drive, sneaking it in from 1-yard out to put the Spartans up 10-0 right before halftime.

"From the start of the game, it felt great," Kramer said. "You already know from the start you're coming out here with way less guys than the other team has. Coming out here and driving down the field right off the bat and just getting some points right away, getting up 10-0 at halftime.

"At halftime we knew we were not close to done at all, because they have a bunch of fresh kids completely ready to get in that game, and we knew that once we came out of halftime, that we were going to have to come out firing just as hard as we did in the first half. It was amazing to see this team really just dig in. Even with the fewer guys we had. We were tired too."

With many playing both ways — offense and defense — and the heat index on the turf field registering in the 90's, the Spartans began to noticeably tire. That's when Rosemount made its push.

After a scoreless third quarter, the Irish (1-3) broke through with a 5-yard TD run from Jeru Bean on the first play of the fourth.

On the ensuing drive, it appeared the Spartans were well on their way to extending the lead, but were halted on a fourth down inside the Irish 30. The very next play, Rosemount dipped into its bag of tricks going with a double pass that saw receiver Cal Ronay find a wide open Kelan Johnson for a 72 yard score. It seemed the Spartans were about to suffer their second consecutive devastating loss as Rosemount took a 14-10 lead with just over six minutes left.

But not on this day. In fact, coach Donny Holcomb could tell.

"I saw maturity. There wasn't hanging your head like, oh shoot, we're going to lose another one close," he said. "It was, let's go out and win this one."

Peterson could also feel it in the huddle.

"We work nine months just to play football for two," he said. "We're just all a family here, and we all love each other, play for one another. We never stop working."

The heart and culture of Mayo football were on full display on that final drive.

The Spartans picked up a pair of fourth and longs to keep the drive alive as the clock continued to milk down. On the first one — a fourth-and-6 — Beale caught the ball out in the flat and ran into a pair of Rosemount defenders a couple yards short of the line to gain. Yet, Beale bounced off them like they were nothing, gaining an additional 10 yards to move the sticks.

The second conversion saw Calder Sheehan put his body on the line as he caught the ball across the middle, before fighting to pick up exactly 15 yards on fourth-and-15.

From there it felt like destiny.

The Spartans would pick up two more first downs, before Beale punched in the game-winner from 1-yard out with just 14 seconds left. Beale finished with a hard fought 87 yards rushing on 16 carries.

"He's just insane," Peterson said. "He makes my job so much easier. I just hand him the ball and if it's supposed to be a 5-yard play, he can go get 100."

Safety Max Durgin iced the game with an interception on the following Rosemount drive.

"What I'm most proud about is all the work and commitment and effort that they've put in," Holcomb said. "The way that they've ignored they're too small, they're too slow, any of that stuff that can mentally break you. They're strong. They're mentally strong. I'm so proud of them."

Holcomb also credited the Mayo administrative staff and all who helped get a game that was originally scheduled for Thursday night before storms postponed it to Friday afternoon.

"Give our administration credit for doing what they did to have to call the game last night to get this thing all put together," Holcomb said. "There's so many moving parts, from the chain gang to the clock to tickets, everything. Just an awesome Spartan community."

The Spartans hit the road next Friday, Sept. 27 to take on Lakeville South.

Mayo 17, Rosemount 14 Rosemount 0-0-0-14—14 Mayo 3-7-0-7—17

First quarter

Mayo — Ethan Post 27 kick 2:59

Second quarter

Mayo — Isaac Peterson 1 run (Post kick) 0:41

Third quarter

No scoring

Fourth quarter

Rosemount — Jeru Bean 5 run (Bennett Simmering kick) 11:55

Rosemount — Kelan Johnson 72 pass from Cal Ronay (Simmering kick) 6:05

Mayo — Isaiah Beale 1 run (Post kick) 0:14

we got to pick our heads up after that. We got to get going. We need this one. That's what I really told. We need this drive right here. And then on the sideline, it was just really heads down. We got to keep going after that, not misleading.