Grundy Center (Iowa) High School awarded NFF Hatchell Cup for on-field, academic success

By Ryan Timmerman | Photo by Matthew Putney  

Very few high school football programs around the country have accomplished as much as Grundy Center on the field this past fall, and now the Spartans have proof that even fewer have matched their accomplishments in the classroom.

On Feb. 2, Grundy Center was awarded the National Football Foundation (NFF) Hatchell Cup Presented by "The Original" Bob's Steak & Chop House.

Named after President and CEO of the NFF, Steve Hatchell, the award is given by the NFF and was created to recognize programs that achieve success on and off the field. Besides Hatchell, the NFF boasts several distinguished individuals on its board of directors and awards several honors to football programs throughout the country.

“It's a tremendous honor for the football program, (their) families, the school and the community,” said Grundy Center activities director Matt Lindeman. “Another great example of what a special group of young men that made up the 2022 Grundy Center Spartan football team. They committed themselves to be the very best on the football field and in the classroom. (It's) a great testament to their work ethic and dedication.”

In receiving the national award, the Spartans were the only school to be honored with the distinction in Iowa and one of 60 schools from around the country recognized as finalists.

Grundy Center won the Class A state title this past fall after finishing as runners-up the three seasons prior, going 46-5 over that span, and matched the on-field success with a combined team GPA of 3.69.

“I feel a lot of pride for our kids, school and community,” said head football coach Travis Zajac. “It’s kind of hard to put into words. We had a fantastic football season and won a state championship, but this award for our success in the classroom and within the community, I think that means just as much, if not more. It speaks to the well-roundedness of the young people in our building and the families they come from.”

The school will receive a trophy and a $10,000 donation from the NFF.

“I knew our kids checked all the boxes (and) plowed through the paperwork for it,” Zajac said. “I was surprised to win it and even more so to find out we were the only team in the state honored with it. As surprising as it was and is, it’s well-deserved.

“As an educator, you tend to get warped into your own little world, going from school to practice, to home and back again. But there are a lot of really good things happening in our school buildings. Not just here but around the country and within the sport of football.”

No Iowa high schools were named among last year's 62 finalists before the national award went to Cypress Woods HS (Texas).

Recipients must have at least a 3.0 team GPA and a successful on-field campaign.

The NFF website includes a note from NFF Chairman and football Hall of Famer Archie Manning on the significance of the award:

“Academic and athletic success go hand-in-hand,” Manning said. “We are proud to partner with state high school coaches associations on this award. We hope by inspiring teams to compete in the classroom with the same competitive spirit that it takes to win on the field, we will better prepare high school football players for success later in life.”

On the field, Grundy Center went 13-0 in 2022 en route to capturing district and state titles in Class A.

It was the fourth state title for the Spartans. The previous three all came in the 1980s.

The most recent campaign ended with a 27-0 victory at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls over West Hancock, the team that beat Grundy Center in two of the three second-place efforts from 2019 to 2021.

For the 2022 season, the undefeated Spartans outscored their opponents 465-76.

They were led offensively by junior quarterback Colin Gordon, who had over 2,000 passing yards while completing nearly 70 percent of his 192 pass attempts plus over 540 rushing yards to go with 36 total touchdowns against eight interceptions, and junior running back Justin Knaack’s 890 yards on the ground with 19 scores.

Receivers Tate Jirovsky, a junior, and Ben Wegmann, a senior, each had over 500 receiving yards.

At the same time, one of the state’s stoutest defenses boasted the likes of juniors Trent Cakerice and Clay Saak and sophomore Brody Zinkula, all of whom had over 60 tackles.

Gordon, Knaack, Jirovsky, Saak and Cakerice were joined by teammate Patrick Brown III, a senior offensive lineman, as first-team all-state selections, while Wegmann garnered a second-team nod.

“There’s a lot of demand for our kids’ time,” said Zajac. “We’re a small school, so they’re involved in a lot of different things. We’ve got a handful of boys in the National Honor Society and even more in band and choir, jazz ensemble or part of our musical production here. Our kids do a lot, and they do it all pretty darn well.”

Brown was named captain of the Class A all-state team and was one of four Spartans named to the all-state academic team along with Wegmann, Austin Betts and Stuart Whitehill, while Knaack was an honorable mention on the all-academic team.

“It’s just incredible to be from little Grundy Center and to be recognized like this nationally,” Zajac said. “Anyone worth their salt in education and athletics, you’re just trying to connect with the kids and point them in the right direction so that they become productive adults. We try to find ways to talk about that with our players daily.

“This sort of award solidifies in my mind that our process works. (The student-athletes) do everything we ask and bring an awful lot to the table with their work ethic, diligence and care for others.”