Hermantown Had Something To Prove – Earn Their Chance to Play in Metrodome

Hermantown Hawks 5-1 Mankato West Scarlets

First State Tournament for Hemantown provides motivation.

Gusty winds and a heavy mist that came in waves is what greeted fans and players in the first game of the night at Roseville HS. The boys State 1A Tournament quarterfinal matched the section 7A champion Hermantown Hawks (20-1-0) against the section 2A winner, the Mankato West Scarlets (18-2-0). For Hermantown, it was their first appearance in the tournament.

Hermantown, with the wind to their backs, used the weather to their advantage in the first half and by hitting through balls to forwards trying to beat Mankato West’s offside trap. The strategy was effective as the Hawks’ speed proved to be a problem for the Scarlets from the first few moments of the game.

15 minutes into the match the Hawks’ Willis Kantonen sent a diagonal ball through to Charlie Comnick who received the pass just left of goal and 30 yards out. Comnick fired hard to the far post and beat Mankato West keeper Jace Leiferman to open the scoring for Hermantown.

Then just 2 minutes later Comnick struck again. This time senior Brett Ludwig was the playmaker, laying a long throughball to Comnick who was streaking down the center of the field. As a Scarlet defender came out to confront Comnick, he popped the ball up and over both the keeper and the defender tucking the ball into the back of the net for his second goal of the evening.

Then with 28 seconds left in the first half, Willis Kantonen got into the action for Hermantown. He carried the ball along the Mankato West endline. Kantonen then stuffed the ball between Leiferman and his left goalpost for the 3rd goal of the half.

If Mankato West thought the wind would be in their favor in the second half, Hermantown was doing its best to convince the Scarlets that it didn’t matter. Just as they had in the first half, the Hawks started the second half of play making effective runs with through balls penetrating the Mankato west defense.

7 minutes into the second half Willis Kantonen, who had scored just before the half, fed yet another diagonal throughball to two Hermantown players who yet again broke the offside trap of the Scarlets. Comnick got on the end of the pass as he split the Mankato West defense and blew the ball by Leiferman low and hard. The goal was Comnick’s third of the night. But the senior forward wasn’t done for the evening.

With 14:31 to play, Comnick received yet another throughball from Willis Kantonen. Kantonen received a pass himself and turned the ball at center midfield. He threaded another penetrating ball to Comnick who sprinted around his defender and tucked the ball low past Leiferman to the far post. The goal was the 4th of the night for Comnick, and the 3rd assist for Kantonen. The senior midfielder had one goal  and 3 assists on the night for 4 points.

Hermantown coach Dave Thompson was thankful that Comnick was on his team playing soccer instead of football. He explained, “I’m so glad Charlie broke his leg in football practice in 9th grade, so he decided to come out for soccer. He’s just a man out there.”

Mankato West was able to break the Hawks shutout with only 11 seconds left in the game. With almost all substitutes in for Hermantown, the Scarlets took advantage and pressured the Hawks. As a scramble occurred in front of the box, the Scarlets’ Matthew Jacobs found a spot to slot the ball for the Scarlets only goal. The goal was only the 7th allowed all season by Hawks’ goalkeeper Andrew Samberg.

Midfielder Kantonen stated that his team had something to prove. “We were all jacked up to come out here,” said Kantonen. “This is our first state tournament and I don’t think anyone expects much of a team that comes from the North.”

When coach Thompson was asked about the overall team speed, he stated, “I think they just ran faster tonight because they were so cold. Seriously, they desperately wanted to get inside to the Metrodome. I really think they believed that the only way to do that was to play fast and play well.”

“I’m so grateful that it wasn’t good enough for them just to win the section which was really the dream,” added Thompson. “For them to go through this quarterfinal game and go through these adverse conditions and for them to play as well as they did, they earned their chance to go play inside at the dome.”