Football Preview: Spring Grove Lions vs. Kingsland Knights
The Spring Grove Lions will head out to face off against the Kingsland Knights at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Spring Grove will be coming into the contest with an undefeated record on the line.
Spring Grove is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Minnesota's top teams: Mountain Lake/Mountain Lake Christian, who was ranked ninth in their home state at the time (Spring Grove was ranked sixth). Spring Grove walked away with a 21-12 win over Mountain Lake/Mountain Lake Christian on Saturday.
Meanwhile, a well-balanced attack led Kingsland over Mabel-Canton in every quarter on their way to victory on Friday. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Kingsland blew Mabel-Canton out of the water with a 33-6 final score. The Knights might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won four games by 27 points or more this season.
Kingsland's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Zach Reiland led the charge by rushing for 121 yards and two touchdowns on only 13 carries. Reiland also put in work on the defensive side of the ball, picking up a sack, forcing a fumble, and making eight total tackles (3.0 for loss). Another player making a difference was Caden Reiter, who rushed for 102 yards and a touchdown on only eight carries.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Kingsland was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 294 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 197 rushing yards in seven consecutive matchups dating back to last season.
Kingsland wouldn't let Mabel-Canton keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force four fumbles. It was truly a group effort as Nathaniel Drees, Parker Johnson, Micheal Johnson, and Reiland picked up one apiece. What's more, Parker also racked up 50 rushing yards, the mosthe's had since back in September of 2023.
Spring Grove pushed their record up to 6-0 with the victory, which was their fourth straight at home dating back to last season. As for Kingsland, their record now sits at 4-1.
Spring Grove took a serious blow against Kingsland when the teams last played back in November of 2023, falling 44-14. Can Spring Grove avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
