Hill-Murray holds on in fiery second half to beat Mahtomedi

Host Hill-Murray survived a second-half bull rush to defeat conference and section rival Mahtomedi 34-26 on Friday night at Higgins Memorial Field.

Thanks to a Hail Mary at the end of the first half, the Pioneers took a 17-7 lead into halftime, but the Zephyrs charged back with 13 unanswered points less than 2 minutes, 30 seconds into the third quarter to take the lead.

Hill-Murray star quarterback Zach LaValle made sure that wouldn't hold up, though.

The senior completed a play-action pass to Jack Cichy for a 7-yard touchdown midway through the fourth quarter, points that would give the Pioneers the lead again and hold up as the winning score.

"He made plays," Pioneers coach Mark Mauer said of LaValle. "Zach's as good of a football player out there."

The Hill-Murray defense came up with two big turnovers, including one in the red zone, to halt Mahtomedi's scoring chances and preserve the lead.

The victory improved Hill-Murray to 5-2 overall and into a third-place tie with Mahtomedi in the conference standings.

Both teams ran into penalty trouble and were held quiet after that until Pioneers lineman Michael Flowers recovered a Zephyrs fumble with 26.8 seconds left in the half. It set up an all-or-nothing 34-yard "Hail Mary" pass, which was tipped by a Zephyrs defender before landing in Shane Finnegan's hands for a Pioneers touchdown as time expired to end the first half. The score put Hill-Murray up 17-7.

"That was huge," Mauer said of the unexpected touchdown. "Well, you'd think that was huge. But then they come back out and score 14 points on us."

Goodmanson scored two rushing touchdowns within minutes of each other -- one to start the half, and another shortly after a botched Pioneers kickoff return.