The tight end as a pass-catching target tends to be an afterthought in the power-running offense of the Tomah High School football team.

It wasn’t with 1 minute, 9 seconds remaining Friday, as first-year varsity player Erik Martens caught a 2-yard pass from Dustin Burkwalt to help Tomah to a 21-20 win over Holmen in the Mississippi Valley Conference opener for both teams.

“There was no one around me after I released,” Martens said. “I’m just glad I was in the end zone when I caught it.”

Clayton Barrix booted the extra point to provide the winning margin.

Tomah (1-0, 2-1) began the game-winning drive with about five minutes to play. Josh Butterfuss came up with a big 17-yard pass reception on the drive. After a 6-yard scramble by Burkwalt got Tomah to the Vikings’ one-yard line, a Jordan Coryell tackle for loss brought up third-and-goal from about 11/2 yards away.

Tomah coach Brad Plueger elected not to pound the ball with running back Joel Sweeney, the lone returning first-team all-conference skill player from a year ago, instead opting for Burkwalt and Martens.

“We were allowing too much penetration,” Plueger said. “Their linebackers were doing a great job of getting into our fullbacks. Dustin made some great reads down the stretch.”

Sweeney appeared to be less than 100 percent physically and gained 104 yards after missing last week’s 18-10 loss to Black River Falls, but it came on 31 carries.

Sweeney seemed to lack the explosiveness that was a large factor in his being named the MVC Offensive Player of the Year in 2007.

“He gave everything he had,” Plueger said “He wasn't 100 percent, but he is getting better."

Holmen coach Steve King said his defense played a role in keeping Sweeney under wraps.

“For the most part we did a pretty nice job defensively,” King said. “We tried to arm tackle Sweeney a few times, but we also abused him a little bit, too. He got his touches, but we did fine against him.”

Sweeney was joined in the backfield by fullback Ross Lynch, who played only briefly in the Black River Falls contest. He gained 25 yards on a back side screen in the first half.

Martens, meanwhile, didn’t have an official reception in his first two games, although he caught a two-point conversion try against Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau.

“We don’t throw too much,” Martens said. “We work a lot on blocking.”

The Vikings (0-1, 0-3) advanced the ball to Tomah’s 18-yardline after the Martens touchdown, aided by an Andy Kannel 43-yard kickoff return. But an intentional grounding penalty essentially ended the threat.

Plueger believes another tight game -- none of Tomah’s three games have been decided by more than nine points -- will help his team down the line.

“We were better in the clutch, but we were down there a lot,” Plueger said. “We’re not young, but we are inexperienced. As we get more experience, we’ll be better in those situations.”

Martens said the Timberwolves remain focused on wining an MVC title. Tomah plays its road game Friday against La Crosse Logan. Last year, Tomah beat Logan in a game that was very similar to Friday’s contest.

“We want to be conference champions again,” Martens said. “But we're going to have to make a lot fewer mental mistakes than we did tonight.”

Sports Editor Steve Rundio contributed to this report.