KINGSLEY — It was old-school, defensive-minded football here Friday night with a potential home playoff game on the line between St. Edmond and Kingsley-Pierson.

In the end, the Gael defense won out, as the team scored a thrilling 24-20 victory to secure the runner-up spot in the district.

St. Edmond (5-3 overall, 4-1 in the district) will find out its postseason fate on Saturday morning when the Iowa High School Athletic Association releases pairings. Kingsley-Pierson (6-3, 3-2) will also qualify as the No. 3 seed behind district champion GTRA.

Grant Galles sealed the win with an interception, picking off Landon Howe. It was the second straight drive-ending pick for St. Edmond, as fellow senior Ethan Swisher had an interception on the previous series with the Panthers driving for the potential game-winning score.

“What an incredible gameplan by (defensive coordinator) Mark (McDermott) that the kids executed to perfection,” SEHS head coach Matt Dillon said. “Listen, they played one of their best games of the year and came up clutch when we needed it the most.”

Kinnick Henning and Aaron Hindt both had rushing touchdowns in the first half, as Swisher connected with Galles on the opening drive of the third quarter. Koleman Hanson knocked through a field goal and Henning had a safety on defense.

“It was a gut-check game throughout,” Dillon said. “And I am so proud of the way these kids continued to fight and battle through it all. Everything didn’t go our way and we had to overcome some real adversity, but they did.

“Our defensive line did a tremendous job of making it hard for Howe to get settled all game long,” Dillon said. “He is a very good quarterback and we made it tough for him. Jakob (Koopman) did an incredible job of taking away their leading receiver (Easton Nissen).”

Nissen, the main target for Howe, was held without a catch.

Henning and Hindt both capped first quarter touchdown drives to give St. Edmond an early 12-0 lead. Kingsley-Pierson cut it to six with a Howe TD run, but Hanson gave the Gaels a two-posssession lead once again with a 25-yard field goal.

Just before half, the Panthers got a second rushing score, this time from Tyler Koch, making it 15-12.

Coming out of the break, the Gaels received a big kickoff return from Galles and put the ball in the end zone when Swisher hit him on a 13-yard pass, bringing the advantage to 10 following a success Hanson extra-point.

Henning’s safety came on the next possession and the Panthers scored with just over three minutes to go on a second Koch TD run for the final points of the game.

Swisher completed 17 of 27 for 187 yards, adding 40 yards on the ground. Henning ran for 48 and Hindt had 36 as the Gaels executed a ball-control attack in the second half.

Galles caught six passes for 78 yards, Hindt had five receptions for 42 and Koopman caught four for 34.

“The kids made plays even after they made mistakes and at the high school level, that shows the kind of mental toughness you need to win a game like this,” Dillon said. “You have to have short memory for the bad because there is almost always another chance to step up for your team and your teammates.”

For Kingsley-Pierson, Koch ran for 126 yards and Howe had 80, but was held to just 96 in the air with two interceptions.

SE KP

First Downs 16 17

Rushes-Yards 32-124 36-206

Pass Yards 187 96

Comp-Att-INT 17-27-1 6-25-2

Total Yards 311 302

Penalties-Yards 10-80 7-50

Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0

St. Edmond 12 3 9 0 — 24

K-P 0 12 8 0 — 20

Scoring Summary

St. Edmond — Kinnick Henning (3-yard run), 7:48 left in first. Conversion failed.

St. Edmond — Aaron Hindt (2-yard run), 2:57 left in first. Conversion failed.

Kingsley-Pierson — Landon Howe (1-yard run), 7:14 left in first. Conversion failed.

St. Edmond — Koleman Hanson (25-yard field goal), 4:18 left in second.

Kingsley-Pierson — Tyler Koch (3-yard run), 1:03 left in second. Conversion failed.

St. Edmond — Grant Galles (13-yard pass from Ethan Swisher), 9:56 left in third. Hanson kick.

St. Edmond — Safety (Kinnick Henning sack in end zone), 8:58 left in third.

Kingsley-Pierson — Tyler Koch (4-yard run), 3:38 left in third. Eli Schroeder conversion.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing — St. Edmond: Kinnick Henning 14-48, Ethan Swisher 5-40, Aaron Hindt 13-36. Kingsley-Pierson: Tyler Koch 23-126, Landon Howe 13-80.

Passing — St. Edmond: Ethan Swisher 17-27-1-187. Kingsley-Pierson: Landon Howe 6-25-2-96.

Receiving — St. Edmond: Grant Galles 6-78, Aaron Hindt 5-42, Jakob Koopman 4-34, Ty Mericle 1-30, Kinnick Henning 1-3. Kingsley-Pierson: Gavin Trapp 1-51, Tyler Koch 4-33, Sam Doeschot 1-12.