(Brian Bell photo) Kingford’s Toby Wilcox looks for yardage against Menominee on Friday. Wilcox finished with 179 rushing yards.

MENOMINEE – Heading into Friday night’s game against Menominee, the Kingsford football team needed a win to force a share of the Great Northern Conference title.

The game went back and forth the whole four quarters as both teams traded blows with one another until the game was tied 27-all and the Flivvers just punted the ball back to Menominee with three minutes remaining in the game.

With the ball at their own 15, the Maroons used a 24-yard run from Trevor Theuerkauf down to their 39, but on the next play an errant pass to a receiver that was double-covered was intercepted by Kingsford’s Brody Kopp at the Flivvers’ 33 yard line with around two minutes remaining.

Even with time running down, Kingsford was patient offensively, utilizing running back Toby Wilcox as he took three straight run plays for 12 yards to the 45. On the next play, Kingsford quarterback Michael Meneguzzo lofted a pass down the middle to Kopp but he could not haul it in on the diving catch attempt.

On second down, Meneguzzo looked Kopp’s way again, and this time he brought it in and broke away down the sidelines for a 50-yard reception down to Menominee’s 5-yard line with 26 seconds remaining.

After Menominee tackled Wilcox for a one-yard loss on first down, Meneguzzo dropped back to pass on second down, and after scrambling around for a few seconds he tossed one up in Kopp’s direction in the end zone and he brought it in over a Menominee defender for the game- winning touchdown with five seconds left to give the Flivvers’ a 34-27 victory and lock up a share of the GNC title.

“I can’t even put it in words right now,” Kopp said of helping his squad secure the victory. “Big players make big plays, and with me being a senior I knew I had to do something to make a play and I was able to. As soon as I saw the ball in the air I knew I had to get it, then when I caught it, it was just an amazing feeling.”

“That’s Brody Kopp,” Kingsford coach Mark Novara said. “I thought that ball was picked off, but Brody is a playmaker. We have some big name guys on this team who draw a lot of attention, but Brody is a guy who has been making plays for us on both sides of the ball all year and I couldn’t be more happy for him.

“We’ve had some games this year that we’ve won big and lost big so to have one come down to the wire and us come out ahead is great to see. This isn’t an easy place to play, it’s always hard to come here and get a win so hopefully that helps us moving forward.”

Special teams played a huge factor in the win for Kingsford as the Flivvers were able to answer the first score of the game by Menominee with an 88-yard kickoff return for a touchdown from Cole Myllyla, and that was just the beginning as Kingsford started most of its possessions with terrific field position and constantly pinned the Maroons behind their own 25-yard line.

Perhaps the biggest momentum shift in the game came in the fourth quarter just after Kingsford’s Wilcox barreled in from nine yards out, running through a couple of Menominee defenders in the process to give the Flivvers’ a 21-20 lead with 9:44 to play that was set up by a big punt return down to Menominee’s 31.

On the ensuing kickoff after Kingsford took the lead, the Flivvers’ used a surprise onside kick that Menominee did not see coming as Kingsford recovered the ball at Menominee’s 35, and two plays later Meneguzzo hooked up with Kopp for their first touchdown connection of the night on a 32-yard strike to take a 27-20 advantage.

“Our kicker (Diego Przeslakowski) is phenomenal, he kicks the ball well and we practice that surprise onside all the time and he executed in perfectly and we had a couple nice kick returns and punt returns that set up our offense nicely too,” Novara said.

Menominee outgained the Flivvers 403-302, but Kingsford limited the Maroons’ workhorse – senior Aidan Bellisle – to just 35 yards and one touchdown on 12 carries and 5-of-7 passing for 30 yards and two scores. Bellisle came into the game with 11 total touchdowns in his last two conference games, but Kingsford was able to win the battle in the trenches and keyed on Bellisle all night long.

The Maroons took a 20-14 lead right after halftime as Brady Badker came up with a big interception and Menominee scored on the first play of its drive as Bellisle flipped the ball to Brody Waara on a reverse and Waara found Cooper Conway wide open down the field for a 41-yard touchdown pass, but Menominee’s offense went stagnant after that and Kingsford was able to take advantage, scoring 20 points in the fourth quarter to seal the victory.

“We stopped moving the ball after we took the lead out of halftime and (Kingsford) just kept hanging in there,” Menominee coach Joe Noha said. “We had a play here and a play there, but we never consistently kept it going and you have to credit Kingsford for that because they have a great team just like we do. It’s not the way we want to end the season, it’s pretty disheartening, but it’s a loss and you have to learn from your losses. Hopefully we get a chance to get back on the field next week and learn from our mistakes from this week.”

Wilcox led the Flivvers 179 yards rushing on 27 carries with one touchdown and Myllyla had one carry for 42 yards and a score. Kopp finished with three catches for 85 yards for all Meneguzzo’s completions on the night.

Kingsford can rest easy tonight knowing it holds a share of the coveted GNC title, but with playoffs looming the Flivvers surely won’t spend too much time celebrating.

“It’s a big deal for us after losing to Marquette earlier in the year,” Novara said of sharing the conference championship. “After we lost that one we knew we were behind, but to come out and get this one and then hopefully have enough to host a playoff game really is a big deal.”