David vs. Goliath. Miracle on Ice. Super Bowl III. Albert Lea vs. Rochester Century?

In the course of human history there are far bigger upsets in sports, but Friday night at Hammer Field Albert Lea’s 26-21 victory over the Panthers, the seventh-ranked football team in Class 5A, seemed like the second coming of those upsets for the Tiger players and fans.

The Tigers (1-4, 1-3 Big Nine) continued to tell themselves they were a good football team this season, even after an 0-4 start and proved it against Century.

“It was a little discouraging starting out the season without a win, but every single one of us on this team stayed positive about it and that’s why we came out and won this game today,” said senior captain Jordan Cooper.

On a cold evening with drizzling rain, three fourth-and-goal touchdowns and four interceptions by Albert Lea helped give the Tigers their first victory of the season and sent shockwaves that will reverberate across the conference for a long time.

“To go 0-4 and lose your homecoming and to come back and beat a team of that caliber in any condition is fabulous,” said Albert Lea head coach Clay Anderson.

Senior Luke Grossman rushed for 164 yards on 30 carries and scored three touchdowns despite the sloppy field conditions. Each of Grossman’s touchdowns came on fourth down plays, including a 12-yard reception with 11 seconds left in the first half that gave Albert Lea an 18-7 lead.

The muddy field did little to deter the Tiger run game as they rolled up 258 yards on the ground. The line was able to control the line of scrimmage for the majority of the game. Grossman said it was the best the offensive line has played this season.

“We could move the ball on them really good,” Grossman said. “I give all the credit to the offensive line. They did a great job. They got a push every time and made it easy for me.”

Albert Lea senior Nikko Grace, in his first game of the season intercepted Panthers’ quarterback Jared Malone twice and both times it led to Tiger touchdowns.

“I’ve never had an impact like this so it’s like finally I’m starting to show people that I actually can play. I’m not just a scout player,” Grace said.

His interception set up Albert Lea’s first scoring drive as the Tigers scored nine plays later on a fourth-and-goal from the 1 yard line on a run by Grossman.

On Century’s next possession Grace intercepted another Malone pass as he was falling down. The turnover set up another Albert Lea touchdown in the second quarter.

Jordan Cooper scored on a 2-yard run seven plays later and Albert Lea suddenly had a 12-0 lead with 7:01 left in the second quarter.

The fast start was the evidence the Tigers needed to start to believe they could upset a top-10 team.

“Our offense started out right away, which was huge,” said senior lineman Clint Schmidt. “It made us think that we were able to run it on them and control the game.”

Albert Lea added a touchdown with 17 seconds left in the first half when Kyle Kriewall found Luke Grossman for a 12-yard swing pass to take an 18-7 lead.

It’s a play Anderson installed three weeks ago and the Tigers have only run three times this season, but each time it’s worked.

“It’s one of those plays that’s kind of been a nice play for us,” Anderson said.

Grossman went on to add his third down of the game on Albert Lea’s first possession of the second half on a 1-yard run on fourth-and-1 that capped off a seven-play, 80-yard drive to give the Tigers a 26-7 lead.

A three-score lead certainly wasn’t safe for Owatonna last week when the Panthers scored 28 unanswered points for a 28-21 win, and it wasn’t entirely safe until the clock read all zeros for the Tigers.

For three quarters the Albert Lea defense kept Malone under wraps, but in the fourth quarter the Century offense gained more than a third of its 311 yards of total offense. Malone still finished 13-for-17 with 130 yards passing and rushed for 90 yards.

“We knew we had to contain him with I think we did pretty good today,” Cooper said.

Malone scored from 7 yards out with 6:19 left in the fourth to complete a seven-play, 50 yard drive to make the game 26-14.

Century cut the Albert Lea lead to five after Malone found Kyle Menkosky for a 15-yard touchdown reception with 3 minutes left.

But the Tiger defense got stops on the Panthers final two possessions of the game.

On Century’s final possession, Malone dropped back to pass on first-and-10 with 33.6 seconds left and Grossman dropped him for a 12-yard sack. Century still had one final play but the Albert Lea defense held for the victory.

The Tigers were well aware of the Panther comeback last week and Grossman wasn’t sure the Tigers had the game until the second-to-last play of the game.

“I didn’t think we had it (the game) until I sacked the quarterback,” Grossman said.

When Cooper returned to the locker room after the game his phone was already loaded with text messages from friends.

“Half of the people in my phone texted me ‘good game,'” Cooper said.

Albert Lea gets another chance to knock off a ranked opponent next week when they travel to Mankato West to face the defending Class 4A champs and No. 1-ranked Scarlets.

Albert Lea 26, Century 21

Century 0 7 0 14 — 21

Albert Lea 0 18 8 0 — 26

Second Quarter

AL—Grossman 1 run (pass failed), 11:56.

AL—Cooper 2 run (run failed), 7:01.

C—Fossum 1 run (Dison kick), 3:08.

AL—Grossman 12 pass from Kriewall (pass failed), :11.

Third Quarter

AL—Grossman 1 run (Grossman run), 9:07.

Fourth Quarter

C—Malone 7 run (Dison kick), 6:19.

C—Menkosky 15 pass from Malone (Dison kick), 3:00.

C AL

First downs 14 11

Total Net Yards 311 279

Rushes-yards 31-181 51-258

Passing 130 21

Punt Returns 1-8 1-5

Kickoff Returns 2-26 1-9

Interceptions-Ret. 0-0 4-19

Comp-Att-Int 13-17-4 2-5-0

Sacked-Yards Lost 3-(minus 31) 1-(minus 8)

Punts 2-20.5 6-24.6

Fumbles-Lost 2-0 1-1

Penalties-Yards 5-30 5-35

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Century, Fossum 21-90, Malone 10-90. Albert Lea, Grossman 30-164, Stolt 13-62, Cooper 5-7, Kriewall 3-25.

PASSING—Century, Malone 13-17-4-130. Albert Lea, Kriewall 2-5-0-21.

RECEIVING—Albert Lea, Grossman 1-12, Cooper 1-9.

MISSED FIELD GOALS—None.