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KINGSFORD -- After losing late in games the last two weeks against Gladstone and Wausau West, the Kingsford Flivvers arrived at an early-season crossroads.
Welcoming the Marquette Redmen, a team they hadn't beaten in five years to Flivver Field, Kingsford needed to get back in the win column to have any chance of accomplishing their 2022 season goals.
And, on a rainy evening in mid-September, Kingsford started fast, dealt with an early-second half scare and went on to defeat Marquette 28-14 in Great Northern Conference play. The win Friday night moved the Flivvers' record to 2-2 overall and 1-1 in the league.
Senior running back Cole Myllyla rushed for 173 yards and two touchdowns, and the Flivver defense held the Redmen to only 101 yards of offense to end their brief two-game slide.
"We needed to have this win -- one for our confidence, one for being in the conference race still, one for playoff points," Kingsford coach Mark Novara said. "Just a big win for us all around."
The victory, however, seemed like it might have been extremely costly after sophomore quarterback Nic Novara, in his first game back after suffering a broken leg in preseason, went down again on the third play of the third quarter. Novara was unable to put any pressure on the same leg he had injured previously and did not return to the game.
Immediate concerns after the game were that Novara had rebroken the leg, but reportedly the injury may be just an aggravation of the original fracture. Novara is not expected to play this week but could return to the field soon.
The Flivvers started the game like a firecracker, mainly behind the explosive play of Nic Nora. After Kingsford forced a three-and-out on the first series of the game, the do-it-all senior returned the punt 54 yards down to the Marquette 1-yard line.
On the next play, Myllyla broke the goal line, and after Nolan White's PAT, Kingsford led 7-0 less than two minutes into the game.
"He's a special athlete," Coach Novara said about Nora. "We're glad he's on our team, for sure. He's just one of those guys who has the ability to score any time he touches the ball."
On the second play from scrimmage following his touchdown, Nora picked off a pass to put his team on the Marquette 43. Myllyla ripped off runs of 10 and 15 and Elizen Rouse added an 8-yarder before Nic Novara hit Nora with a 10-yard TD strike to put the Flivvers up 14-0 with 5:13 still left in the opening period.
In total, Kingsford rushed the ball 39 times for 294 yards (7.5 yards per carry).
Myllyla heaped praise on his blockers afterward.
"If I don't have blocking out there, I wouldn't have a yard," he said. "I mean, we came into this game, every O-linemen, every guy out there as a wide out, we decided that we're going to work as a team every single play.
"Guys block like that, I'm bound to get a couple yards."
All true, but Myllyla is not just a run-of-the-mill back, either.
"Cole's another dynamic player like Nic," Coach Novara said. "He's a talented, talented kid and he's a threat to score at any time."
Marquette (1-3) scored on the first play of the second quarter, capping off a 45-yard drive with a 5-yard pass from junior quarterback Jack Quinnell to senior back Nate Benninger.
Nevertheless, the Flivvers marched right down the field in response, driving 75 yards on six plays. Myllyla produced runs of 15 and 14 yards during the drive and Nora caught a 24-yard jump ball down to the Redmen 3-yard line. Rouse finished off the drive with a touchdown plunge to put Kingsford up 21-7 at halftime.
The Flivvers received the opening kickoff of the second half, and on the second play, Nic Novara was sacked under heavy pressure. The pass fluttered up in the air, was picked off by Benninger, who returned it 33 yards for a touchdown.
Novara was clearly hurt and was later helped off the field by a few of his teammates, after the Redmen celebrated their second touchdown of the game.
"It's kind of one of those shockers," Coach Novara said. "You look at your quarterback's down, you look at they just scored, it's a ball game. There's a lot of emotion going on."
Nora took over at quarterback for one series before he began to suffer leg cramps. The season's original starter, junior Eli Wallis, then replaced Nora and stabilized the game for the Flivvers, handling the ball and the offense with precision.
However, given that in the last two weeks the Flivvers went into the fourth quarter either tied or in front and come up empty, it seemed imperative that Kingsford turn the momentum back in a hurry.
The Flivvers did not pick up a first down in their two drives after Novara's injury, but their defense stood strong while the offense got its mojo back. That happened with just under two minutes to play in the third quarter when Myllyla broke loose for a 63-yard touchdown run to give his team its two-touchdown lead back and offer the Flivver fans a breath of relief.
The coach certainly understood the importance of the score.
"Probably the play of the game for us," Novara said.
Just after the touchdown, the skies opened up and rain came down in sheets. The precipitation affected the Marquette offense's ability to execute, and when the Flivvers obtained possession, their goal was to run the ball and the clock.
Kingsford basically ran out the game on nine rushing plays over a period of five minutes of game time and the win was in the bank.
"To come out here and win, it's just huge for our program, it's huge for our team, just overall amazing," Myllyla said. "Taking that loss against Gladstone was a huge kill. I think we came back against Wausau, I mean they were big, but we have fought every game. We're just improving little by little. This game really showed that we can win big games."