Bilhal Kone and the Iowa Central football team overcame a slow start to post a season-opening win over Lackawanna this past weekend in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

For Kone, the rally was sparked by recalling all the obstacles he overcame alongside his teammates during the spring season on the gridiron.

"My experiences helped me in many ways," Kone said. "Mostly adversity and holding together as a team because that can either break us or make us stronger, so just keeping are heads up and telling each other - myself included - that we're stronger than we think helped us a lot."

The Apple Valley, Minnesota native was named defensive MVP of the Graphic Edge Bowl just a few short months ago. In the ranked matchup with Lackawanna, Kone recorded 12 total tackles, including six solo stops to lead the team. 

Patrolling the secondary, though, was far from his only assignment. Kone also took over as Iowa Central's punter this preseason, averaging 41.6 yards on seven kicks, including a long of 65 and with one downed inside the 20.

"I punted varsity since my sophomore year in high school," Kone said. "My coaches said there's an opportunity to punt and I just took it and was serious about it because I know it can help us reach our end goal.

"I felt pretty good punting out there our first game. We can do a lot of damage with our group so I felt comfortable."

After surrendering a pair of late touchdowns in the second quarter, the Triton defense did not allow another point, as Lackawanna's only second half score came on a punt return. 

"We know we are a strong group and we just needed to connect out there because we truly believe nobody is better than us because of our work ethic," Kone said. "We did that and we pulled through by holding each other accountable and pushing until the end."

Iowa Central traveled over 500 miles to face Lackawanna and will now make the 350-plus mile journey to meet the College of DuPage in Illinois this Saturday. 

"The win made the trip and back way more worth it," Kone said. "It also gave us even more momentum knowing how hard we worked paid off. But we're just getting started and we know we have a long way to go to reach the end goal."

Kone had 15 total tackles, two interceptions, seven pass breakups and forced a fumble in eight games this past spring.

-By Dana Becker