Breck scored 20 points in the final eight minutes, including the game-winner with less than 30 seconds left, to defeat Brooklyn Center 34-30 at McKnight Stadium in the Class 3A, Section 4 tournament quarterfinals Tuesday.
John Henry Berntsen lobbed a pass to Oliver Kuhn in the back of the end zone with 26.6 seconds remaining, putting the Mustangs ahead for good. Breck advanced to play top seed Minneapolis North in the second round Saturday.
“It was see-ball-get-ball. I wasn’t a thousand percent sure the ball was coming to me, but I was a thousand percent sure if it did, I was coming down with it,” Kuhn said. “I saw two guys around me. I said, ‘I don’t care. That’s mine.’ I went up and took it.”
Berntsen threw a pair of touchdown passes to Mu Muhammad to get the Mustangs (6-4) within three points with just under five minutes left. Kuhn caught a pair of touchdown passes in the first half and left impressed with his quarterback’s fourth-quarter play.
“It was unbelievable,” Kuhn said. “There is no one else I’d rather have under center. He’s been my guy all season.”
Brooklyn Center (4-5) lost three starters on offense during the game, including starting quarterback Larry Smith and leading rusher Alpha Meaway. Smith suffered an injury on a failed extra point attempt following a touchdown pass to Rodney Pierce-Tyler Jr. on the Centaurs’ first offensive drive, and in the third quarter Meaway left the game after scoring on a two-point conversion.
Without Smith, the Centaurs snapped the ball directly to Meaway and Gavin Thomas.
Thomas returned an interception for a touchdown to put more points on the scoreboard for Brooklyn Center.