St. Michael-Albertville junior Mitchell Kartes returned an interception for a 55-yard touchdown in the final minutes Friday, sealing a 23-12 victory over Rogers in a highly contested rivalry game.

It was the Knights’ fifth consecutive victory against their North Central District opponents.

Kartes scored with 2:21 left to play, the Knights’ second touchdown within a two-minute span in the fourth quarter. Emmanuel Akundu scored on a 1-yard touchdown with 3:41 left to give St. Michael-Albertville a 16-12 lead. The go-ahead touchdown was set up by Griffen Marquette’s 41-yard pass to Braeden Levandowski on a fourth-and-7.

“It feels great,” Kartes said. “We came out here tonight and we made some mistakes, but we also picked it up. We had some guys grow and the team as a whole is clicking on all cylinders.”

Rogers kicker Matt Becker made a 32-yard field goal with 9:47 left in the fourth quarter to give the Royals a 12-10 lead.

The Knights had four interceptions, two of them by Kartes, who also rushed for 48 yards. Tanner Palm passed for 177 yards in the loss for Rogers while Mitch Spilles had two interceptions.

Kartes said, “I knew tonight was going to be a hard game and I’d have to make some plays and the same for some other kids, but it feels amazing to get two interceptions against Rogers because they are a stellar team.”

 St. Michael-Albertville junior Mitchell Kartes returned an interception for a 55-yard touchdown in the final minutes Friday night, sealing a 23-12 win against Rogers in a highly contested North Central Conference game.

It was the Knights' fifth consecutive victory against Rogers.

Kartes scored the touchdown with 2:21 left to play, the Knights second touchdown within a two minute span in e fourth quarter.  Emmanuel Akundu scored on a 1-yard touchdown with with 3:41 remaining to give St. Michael-Albertville a 16-12 lead. The go-ahead touchdown was set up by a 41 yard connection from Griffen Marquette to Braeden Levandowski on fourth and long.

Rogers kicker Matt Becker made a 32-yard field goal with 9:47 left in the fourth quarter to give the Royals a 12-10 lead.

The Knights had four interceptions in the game, two of them by Kartes, who also rushed for 48 yards.

Tanner Palm passed for 177 yards in the loss for Rogers while Mitch Spilles had two interceptions.

Check back later for more on the game.