CASSOPOLIS — Wyatt Cool returned an interception 100 yards to seal No. 3-ranked Mendon’s 34-24 victory over No. 4-ranked Cassopolis at a packed William F. Scott Field Friday night.

Just when the undefeated Rangers looked as if they were going to rally for a last-second victory, Cool picked off a Dylan Green pass at the goal line and raced down the Hornets’ sideline to score with 27 seconds remaining in the Southwest 10 Conference battle for first place.

The victory was Mendon’s 500th all-time as the Hornets became just the 13th team in Michigan to reach that plateau.

Cool was already going to be the star of the game after leading Mendon to a 27-24 lead by rushing for 155 yards on 18 carries and four touchdowns.

His final rushing touchdown, which came on a one-yard run following what appeared to be a fumble that was recovered by Cassopolis at the goal line, gave the Hornets the three-point advantage late in the fourth quarter.

Cassopolis took the ensuing kickoff and worked the ball methodically down the field, reaching the Mendon 6-yard line with a minute to play.

After spiking the ball on first down, Green rolled out to pass, but was picked off by Cool.

“We knew there was going to be enough time there if we came up with a quick stop,” Cassopolis coach Dan Purlee said. “We figured they would run it there and we hopefully would force a punt. But we made a play and gave ourselves a chance. We were moving the ball. We had been throwing the ball well all night and they were tough in the middle. We had to hit the outside with the run. Unfortunately, we couldn’t make a play at the end.”

The battle of undefeated teams lived up to the pregame hype and drew fans from throughout southwest Michigan and media coverage from as far away as Grand Rapids to the Village of Cassopolis.

As the two teams traded scores throughout the contest it appeared that whoever had the ball last was going to win the game and at least a share of the Southwest 10 Conference inaugural championship.

But as it turned out, that was not quite the case.

Both teams had impact players.

For the Rangers, senior Brandon Anderson caught four passes for 111 yards and rushed for another 51 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He also kicked a 38-yard field goal.

Tyrese Hunt-Thompson caught three passes for 98 yards and a touchdown and came up with the big interception late in the game to give the Rangers a show at pulling out the victory.

Green finished the night 9 of 19 for 225 yards.

Hunter Parsons led the Cassopolis defense with 15 tackles while Skyler McKee finished with 12.

For Mendon, Mikki Feister, a senior, led the Hornets in tackles with 11.

The Mendon defense held the powerful Cassopolis rushing attack to just 93 yards.

“This is a good time to have this game,” Purlee said. “We needed this kind of game. We did not need the loss necessarily, but we needed a tough opponent like Mendon. Hopefully our kids are resilient, bounce back and get better from it.”

Cassopolis (7-1) will host Centreville in its regular season finale at 7 p.m. on Friday.