Class 1A Iowa high school football state championship: Grundy Center blasts MFL MarMac

Grundy Center has won 26 straight games

Author:
Nick Petaros
Publish date:
Nov 16, 2023 10:52 PM EST

CEDAR FALLS – Grundy Center left no doubt.

Class A’s 2022 state champion moved up to Class 1A this season and completed a wire-to-wire run as Iowa’s top-ranked team Thursday night with a 42-0 championship victory over an MFL MarMac program that made its state final debut.

The Spartans (13-0) extended their win streak to 26 by outscoring their five playoff opponents by a total of 209-33. Grundy Center finished five of its first nine drives with touchdowns, setting a running clock in motion with a 35-0 lead over MFL MarMac (11-2) with 1:59 remaining in the third quarter. The Spartans’ defense also shut out West Hancock during last year’s title game in Class A.

“It’s awesome,” Grundy Center senior playmaker Colin Gordin said. “The way we’ve done it too, shutouts both years, it’s incredible.

“It feels like we're almost impossible to beat. It’s crazy to say, but when we get rolling and we’re on our game, it’s tough to beat us.”

Grundy Center is riding a 26-game winning streak. (Photo by Nick Petaros)

Gordon returned a fumble forced by Tanner Laube 27 yards on MFL MarMac’s first play from scrimmage to set up his first of two touchdown runs. Gordon also completed 17 of 25 passes for 242 yards and two scores.

Tate Jirovsky had a 26-yard reception and Justin Knaack caught a pass from 9 yards out for the Spartans’ scoring plays through the air. Knaack added 64 rushing yards and a touchdown and Brody Zinkula finished with 43 rushing yards and a score.

“It’s the kids setting the standard, approaching the week for what it is, and then turning them loose on game day,” said Travis Zajac, after improving to 59-5 in five seasons with five finals appearances as Grundy Center’s head coach. “It did not matter who was in front of us if we played and executed to our capacity – which we struggled to do early in the year – there wasn’t a team that was going to be able to stop us in all three phases. The way that we played the last three weeks, I think they proved that true.”

MFL MarMac, already missing its starting fullback Wyatt Powell with an elbow injury sustained in the semifinals, was dealt another blow when Bryce Radloff went down with an injury after 40 rushing yards on five carries in the first quarter.

This title game was a rematch of the 2019 playoff quarterfinal that marked MFL MarMac’s revival with the program’s first winning season in 26 years. That one-loss team triggered a turnaround for a Bulldogs' program that has gone 47-10 the last five seasons, including this year’s breakthrough trip to the UNI-Dome.

“Obviously, we’ve got tough guys on our team and kudos to those guys that stepped up for injured players like Bryce Radloff and Wyatt,” MFL MarMac quarterback Carver Blietz-Bentien said. “Parker Kuehl, Eli Hanson and Carter Stoddard stepped into a big role and had to fill some big shoes. That just shows that we can take on adversity, but we still didn’t get the outcome we wanted.”