Aden Mintonye, defense leads Kelso to playoff-clinching win over Mountain View

Aden Mintonye gets a lot of attention on the Kelso football team, and rightfully so.

But for the Hilanders to advance in the postseason, they will need to rely on their defense as well.

For the second straight week, the Kelso defense came to play, shutting down Mountain View after some early success and Mintonye did the rest for a 21-12 win Friday in a 3A Greater St. Helens League game at McKenzie Stadium.

“I’m really proud of our (defense),” Kelso coach Steve Amrine said. “If you go a couple of weeks ago giving up a bunch (of point) to Prairie, but the last two weeks the defense has played really, really well. And those guys (Mountain View) have some weapons.”

Mountain View utilized those weapons early as Bryson Vance hit Dylan Huber for a diving 27-yard touchdown pass to give the Thunder a 6-0 lead with 11:13 left in the second quarter.

But Thunder running back Jaden Brown left the game with injury in the second quarter and did not return. From there, the Kelso defense took over.

From early in the second quarter to midway through the fourth, Kelso only allowed Mountain View to gain two first downs.

Bryar Iddings caught a 32-yard touchdown pass from Tucker Amrine to give Kelso a 7-6 lead.

Three plays later, Iddings came up with an interception on defense.

Kelso’s defense then produced back-to-back three-and-outs. Late in the third quarter Mason Hanson came up with a fumble recovery that set up Mintonye’s 20-yard touchdown run on the final play of the third quarter, putting Kelso up 14-6.

Another three-and-out led to a 1-yard touchdown run by Mintonye, who finished with 216 yards on 35 carries after a slow start.

“There were holes all game, but they’re a tough team,” Mintonye said. “They’re making plays on me and they know what they’re doing. My coaches were telling me all game that I was going to break one. And eventually in the second half, I broke a few.”

Huber added a second touchdown catch with 3:27 to play, but Kelso recovered the ensuing onside kick to seal it, clinching a Week 10 playoff berth for the Hilanders.

“We’re going to the playoffs, so it feels a little more better,” Mintonye said. “This was a big game. We knew we had to win to make the playoffs. We didn’t want to go into that three-way tie again like last year. We had to take care of business. Now, we have to take care of Shelton and finish strong before the postseason.”

KELSO 21, MOUNTAIN VIEW 12

Kelso                   0             0             0             0—21

Mt. View            0             0             0             0—12

Second quarter

MV—Dylan Huber 27 pass from Bryson Vance (kick failed)

K—Bryar Iddings 32 pass from Tucker Amrine (Tate Meade)

Third quarter

K—Aden Mintonye 20 run (Meade kick)

Fourth quarter

K—Mintonye 1 run (Meade kick)

MV—Huber 17 pass from Vance (pass failed)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Kelso: Aden Mintonye 35-216, Mason Hanson 1-7, Tucker Amrine 2-(-2), Blake Parsons 1-(-3), team 2-(-4). Mountain View: Dallas Hobbs 11-74, Jayden Brown 6-28, Christiaan Meushaw 7-17, Ayden Cummings 1-25, Alexis Nino Garcia 1-0.

PASSING — Kelso: Amrine 6-13-1-90. Mountain View: Bryson Vance 13-21-1-152.

RECEIVING — Kelso: Iddings 3-67, Meade 1-9, Alex Dieter 1-1, Triton Hagdahl-Daniel 1-13. Mountain View: Dylan Huber 9-107, Jaden Brown 1-8, Caden Reinebach 1-5, Meushaw 0-5, Tarren Taylor 1-16, Kingston McPherson 1-18.