Kingsford junior Gaige Sorenson kicked a 23-yard field goal with 33 seconds left and the Flivver special teams blocked a potential game-winning field goal by Calumet in the dying moments as Kingsford held on for a wild 17-15 victory over the Copper Kings on Homecoming Night on Friday.

The dizzying sequence to end the game put the cap on a terrific high school football game, which also saw the Flivvers take a 14-7 lead with 4:28 to play only to see Calumet take a 15-14 edge on a touchdown and 2-point conversion just two minutes later.

The UPSSA Division 1-3 third-ranked Flivvers delivered their fourth victory in five games and their second since senior quarterback Jack Kriegl was lost for the season for the second straight year with a spleen injury, this one suffered at Gladstone on Sept. 12.

“The win means everything,” said junior Blake Tomasoski, who has taken over the starting QB spot. “Two weeks ago, we lost our best player, Jack Kriegl, and we were trying to figure out what we were going to do.

Kingsford quarterback Blake Tomasoski eludes a Calumet defender during the second quarter Friday night at Flivver Field. (Ron Deuter photo)

“Coach (Mark Novara) told us we were just going to roll with what we have. And in the last two weeks, we’ve been 2-0 and this team has really fought physical and mentally in (both games).”

No one more than Tomasoski, a small but shifty athlete who made big play after big play down the stretch, both running and throwing.

On Kingsford’s 8-minute, 55-yard scoring drive to go up 14-7 with 4:28 left in the game, Tomasoski kept the drive going twice on fourth-down runs. He capped the march with a 3-yard TD pass to junior tight end Brock Flaminio.

And then after the Div. 1-3 fourth-ranked Copper Kings took the lead, Tomasoski directed his team’s no-huddle offense with no timeouts for the winning field goal.

“This was a big deal for him, right?” Novara said. “First home game, first at Flivver Field this year and a big crowd.

“The biggest thing with him, he’s always in the fight no matter what. And he made big plays at the end of the game for us. When we needed him the most, he was at his best.”

And Tomasoski had a bit of good fortune, too. On the drive that won the game, he fired a pass intended for senior running back Jack Olson, which was tipped by a Copper Kings’ defender but deflected to Olson for a 24-yard gain down to the Calumet 10-yard line with under a minute to play.

Four plays later, Sorenson nailed the victorious field goal.

“We came down, we had our no huddle out and we just marched down the field really fast and came up fourth down,” said Sorenson who is in his first season as a kicker. “And I didn’t even know that we were going to kick it. And then Coach is like, ‘We’re kicking it’ and my heart sank. But I got ready, Blake, my holder, made a good catch on (the snap) and he put it on the tee, and it went right down the middle.”

“We’ve been working no huddle since the first day (of practice),” Novara said. “So that was not new to us. But you never know when it comes out. And when we needed it, I thought our kids handled it well.”

Nevertheless, the kick did not put a stake into Calumet. After his team took over the ball on its own 33, junior quarterback Tyler Halonen led his team to the 25-yard line on two passes to senior running back Ben Anderson, one for 26 yards and the other for 16 yards.

After an incompletion, Anderson lined up for the potential game-winning field goal, but the kick was blocked and fell far short of the uprights, sending the Flivver players and fans into celebration.

“We’re a young football team,” Novara said “We’re going to make mistakes, we’re going to look young at times and we’re going to look really good at times. But when you lose Jack Kriegl, that’s not an easy guy to replace.”

“Having Jack out is really, really tough, but it shows that our team can step up, and we can all come together as a group and win,” Sorenson said.

Senior Ian Spencer topped Kingsford in rushing with 73 yards on 19 carries, and a touchdown. Tomasoski recorded 72 yards on 18 carries, Olson posted 45 yards on six carries and Flamino had one rush for 6 yards.

Tomasoski completed 8 of 13 passes for 82 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Olson caught three passes for 38 yards, Sorenson recorded three receptions for 23 yards, Flaminio hauled in two passes for 12 yards and a TD and Evan Scott caught one for 9 yards.

The Flivvers will play the second game of their brief homestand when they host Hancock (0-5) this Friday.

NOTE: Prior to the game, Kingsford High School held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new turf and track at Flivver Field. Also, a moment of silence was held for Art Viens, a former Flivver athlete, volunteer stat keeper, timer and track worker, Booster of the Year and a Breitung Township Schools Achievement Hall of Fame inductee. Vines passed away Sept. 18 at the age of 89.