Albert Lea football head coach Clay Anderson has had his mind made for a long time about whether he would play for the tie or play for the win in an overtime situation.

That situation came Friday and Anderson didn’t hesistate to go for a two-point conversion in overtime to give the Tigers (1-3, 0-3) the win against Mankato East.

Albert Lea trailed 35-34 in overtime when quarterback Cody Hansen rolled right and threw to Logan Kortan along the far sideline of the end zone. Kortan caught the ball but was out of bounds when he caught it, giving the Cougars a 35-34 win at Hammer Field.

It was homecoming Friday night for the Tigers and Anderson said that didn’t influence over his decision to go for two.

“You could have asked me in the middle of my golf season in June and I would have gone for two,” Anderson said. “I told the coaches before it (overtime) even started, since we have the ball second, if they score, and we score and they go for one, we’re going for two.

“We practice that pass play all the time, it’s good goal line play.”

The Cougars (2-2, 1-2) took the lead 35-28 in overtime when quarterback Jordan Benesh scored from nine yards out and Mankato East kicked the extra point.

Hansen led the Tigers on an 11 play, 80-yard drive that lasted over four minutes to put them in position to tie the game and force overtime. Hansen made three first down throws on third down to keep the drive alive and brought the Tigers down to the 19-yard line after a Cougar penalty. From there running back Luke Grossman did the rest, rushing 18 yards on one carry and then finishing the job on the next with a 1-yard touchdown run.

Albert Lea held a 21-14 lead at half time behind an invigorated offense. The Tigers rolled up 406 yards of offense against the Cougars behind a dynamic rushing attack and a productive passing game. Running backs Matt Tiegs and Grossman provided most of the fireworks for Albert Lea. Tiegs got the capacity crowd roaring when he broke a screen pass 84 yards to tie the game 7-7 in the first quarter. On the very next possession Grossman sprinted 61 yards to the end zone to give the Tigers a 14-7 first quarter lead. Tiegs finished the night with 180 total yards of offense and Grossman had 178 yards rushing.

“They ran really hard,” Hansen said. “Our backs whenever they get the ball make something happen.”

The Tigers extended that lead to 21-7 in the second quarter, but Mankato East got on the board later to bring the game to 21-14 after a Kenthen King 1-yard touchdown run gave the Cougars momentum going into the locker room.

Mankato East came out in the third quarter and pounded the ball rushing, racking up 84 yards in the quarter and scoring two touchdowns to take a 28-21 lead after another 1-yard run by King shortly before the quarter ended.

“They lined up in that I and came out physical,” Albert Lea linebacker Jordan Holland said. “They sensed a weakness up the middle. They hit us pretty hard with the run, but we just kept adjusting and hung in there.”

The defense limited the Cougars to 243 yards of total offense on the night and got some big stops during the fourth quarter. With the game tied in the fourth, Jared Talamantes intercepted a pass in the end zone and the Tigers forced a three-and-out on the next possession to move the game to overtime.

“There’s a lot of positives to come out from a game like this,” Holland said. “It hurts to lose, but you get better every week, you can definitely see improvement from our last week to this week.”

The Tigers started the game with Hansen in the shotgun and looked to start the night passing. Hansen was intercepted on the third play of the game, but showing pass opened things up for the running backs.

“We just wanted to mix it up and be more diversified than what we were,” Anderson said. “Then coming out of halftime we thought we could pound them a little more because we really had success with that in the first half. I think Mankato did a good job of taking that away so then we went back to the original game plan.”

After an emotional loss Albert Lea has to refocus its attention to an improved Winona (3-1, 2-1) team.

“I think the key here is where we go from here,” Anderson said. “You lose a real close game like this where you’re all juiced up and put everything on the line and you come up a point short it’s hard to take. Everyone’s got to pick themselves up and come back Monday ready to work.”

Mankato East 35, Albert Lea 34

Mankato East – 7 7 14 7 7 – 35

Albert Lea – 14 7 0 7 6 – 34

First Quarter

Mankato East – Zach Miller 15 pass from Jordan Benesh (Miller kick)

Albert Lea – Matt Tiegs 84 pass from Cody Hansen (Tiegs kick)

Albert Lea – Luke Grossman 61 run (Tiegs kick)

Second Quarter

Albert Lea – Tiegs 6 run (Tiegs kick)

Mankato East – Kenthen King 1 run (Miller kick)

Third Quarter

Mankato East – King 10 run (Miller kick)

Mankato East – King 1 run (Miller kick)

Fourth Quarter

Albert Lea – Grossman 1 run (Tiegs kick)

OT

Mankato East – Benesh 9 run (Miller kick)

Albert Lea – Tiegs 9 pass from Hansen (pass failed)

Passing

Mankato East – Benesh 10-of-21, 95 yards, 1 touchdown, 3 interceptions

Albert Lea – Hansen 8-of-14, 148 yards, 2 touchdowns, 3 interceptions

Rushing

Mankato East – King 24 attempts 112 yards, 3 touchdowns

Albert Lea – Grossman 16 attempts, 178 yards, 2 touchdowns, Tiegs 16 attempts 82 yards, 1 touchdown

Receiving

Mankato East – Miller 5 receptions, 55 yards, 1 touchdown

Albert Lea – Tiegs 3 receptions, 98 yards, 1 touchdown

Total yards

Mankato East – 243

Albert Lea – 406

Total rushing

Mankato East – 148

Albert Lea – 258

Total passings

Mankato East – 95

Albert Lea – 148