Six to the ship

The Spartans won a semifinal game for the sixth year in a row, and will compete for a chance at a third consecutive state championship after blowing past Wilton, 42-7, in a Class 1A semifinal in Cedar Falls.

The Class 1A championship will feature two teams from Grundy County as Dike-New Hartford (11-1) will meet Grundy Center (12-0) at 4 p.m. in the UNI-Dome on Thursday, Nov. 21.

D-NH’s only loss this season came to Grundy Center in Week 1, a 21-7 victory for the Spartans; the Wolverines held off a late charge from Hinton for a 24-18 win in Friday’s other semifinal.

Spartan head coach Travis Zajac has been at the helm for all six of Grundy Center’s trips to the state title game, and he’s seen and experienced first-hand how much it takes to have such consistent success.

T-R PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER – Grundy Center senior safety Jacob Hoy (16) celebrates his 57-yard interception return for a touchdown with teammate Grant Newton (17) and assistant coach Chris Conger during the fourth quarter of Friday’s Class 1A state football semifinal game against Wilton at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls.

“At this point in the season, the physical and emotional exhaustion is real for the kids,” Zajac said. “And we invest a lot of time as coaches. … My heart is just so full of gratitude for our kids and their families, our assistant coaches and their families — we’re talking about hundreds of people that are sacrificing so much for us to be able to compete at this level. It will never get old, and it will never get taken for granted — our success is a blessing.”

Junior quarterback Judd Jirovsky was on the money under center for the Spartans, completing 17 of 18 passes for 170 yards and three touchdowns to three different receivers on Friday.

“We tried to keep this as just another week,” Jirovsky said. “Obviously everyone’s excited, but we were really ready to just get after it today.”

Jirovsky rushed 12 times for 49 yards; Brody Zinkula also had 12 totes for 49 yards, including a 3-yard rushing touchdown.

The matchup started with an uncharacteristic slow start for the Spartans.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE – Grundy Center senior wide receiver Tiernan Vokes (18) dashes past Wilton’s Hayden Hill (24) for a 15-yard gain during Friday’s Class 1A state football semifinal game at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls.

After stopping Wilton on 4th-and-1 near midfield for the Beavers’ opening drive of the game, Grundy Center stalled out with goal-to-go and a 21-yard field goal attempt was wide right — an 11-play, four-minute drive resulted in zero points for the defending champs.

“That was disappointing, but I thought our kids were able to settle in and really focus defensively on taking away their run game,” Zajac said.

The Beavers were three-and-out on their next drive, and the Spartans didn’t let another one get away from them, with Jirovsky throwing across his body to a wide-open Zinkula for a 23-yard touchdown pass with six seconds left in the first quarter.

That got the wheels turning, and two defensive stops in the second quarter, including a blocked punt by Ryder Slifer, set up Spartan scoring drives with a Jirovsky touchdown pass to Tiernan Vokes and a Zinkula touchdown rush to make it 21-0 Grundy Center with 57 seconds left to halftime.

Wilton had an answer before half, using a personal foul call against Grundy and some long passes to eventually score on a 21-yard pass from Drew Keith pass to Owen Hassell with 18 seconds left.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE – Devin Hinders (10) is congratulated by teammate Tiernan Vokes (18) after sacking Wilton quarterback Drew Keith (3) during the third quarter of Friday’s Class 1A state football semifinal in Cedar Falls.

“I was doubting myself after the score, but you’ve got to stay up, it’s a next play mentality,” Grundy Center senior linebacker Ryker Thoren said.

Zinkula quickly gave the Spartans a big boost, returning the ensuing kickoff 89 yards along the Wilton sideline to make it 28-7 Grundy with six seconds to halftime.

“That was crazy,” Thoren said. “I was on the sideline, ran the whole field with him, tried to celebrate with him and missed it — but that’s a fun memory. I’ll remember that forever.”

Zajac added: “We were just going to get the best return we could get, take a knee and go to halftime. But our kids blocked for Brody and he ran it back, and that’s a huge moment for us.”

The Spartans got the ball to start the second half and even at 8:31 left in the third quarter, Devin Hinders’ catch on a perfectly-placed ball by Jirovsky for a 39-yard touchdown felt like a dagger for the Beavers.

T-R PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER – Grundy Center’s Tiernan Vokes (from left), Brody Zinkula and Ryder Slifer celebrate after the final horn sounded on the Spartans’ 42-7 win over Wilton on Friday at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls.

“Devin showed up early in the season but has had some times where we’ve been throwing him the ball and he hasn’t been able to catch it, and I’ve been pretty hard on him about it,” Zajac said. “So when he caught that, I got this big lump in my throat. And to see him celebrating, it’s almost like the weight was coming off his shoulders. And I gave him a big hug when he came back to the sideline. That’s the ascension we’re looking for out of our kids — he’s a really talented player.”

Hinders got a drive-ending sack on fourth-and-long on the next Wilton drive, but the Beavers had a glimmer of momentum forcing and recovering a Grundy Center fumble early in the fourth quarter.

That glimmer was short-lived, as Jacob Hoy intercepted a Wilton pass for a 57-yard interception return, dancing down Wilton’s sideline. The continuous clock started running as it has so many times in Grundy Center’s 38-game winning streak, and the party was on for Grundy Center.

“He’s not just a football player,” Zajac said of Hoy. “4.0 student, involved in multiple sports, other extracurriculars, comes from an awesome family. And he’d probably be the first to say his friends did a great job of blocking for him.”

Grant Newton added a late interception for the Spartan defense. Thoren finished with 10 ½ tackles to lead the Spartans, and was one of seven Grundy Center players with at least a ½ tackle for loss on Friday.

“We’re Spartans, we’re just doing our stuff,” Vokes said of the defense. “We’re gonna know the game plan, know what we need to do, coaches are going to do a great job of getting us ready each and every week to come out and perform.”

The Wolverines are the only team that’s come close to challenging Grundy Center this year. D-NH led 7-0 after the first quarter of the Week 1 game in Grundy Center before the Spartans locked in with 21 consecutive points.

“We’ll be ready to go,” Vokes said. “We’ll get a good game plan going, we’ll get back to 100 percent, or as close as we can be at least, and get ready to go again.”

The scores make it look so easy for the Spartans, defeating opponents by an average of 33 points per game so far this season. But Zajac knows the preparation for next Thursday’s clash will be anything but easy.

“We have to be able to refill the tank — physically, emotionally, mentally — that’s the priority right now,” Zajac said. “Obviously, we’re coaching them, we’re practicing, but we have to make sure they’re OK between the ears and in their chest.

“We’re gonna get [D-NH’s] best shot. But we’re a pretty good football team, and I like our chances.”

State Football Playoffs

Semifinal Round

At UNI-Dome, Cedar Falls

Wednesday’s Scores

8-Player

Remsen-St. Mary’s 22, Bishop Garrigan 20

Gladbrook-Reinbeck 43, Lenox 27

Thursday’s Scores

CLASS A

West Hancock 50, Madrid 35

Tri-Center 42, St. Ansgar 14

CLASS 4A

Pella 28, Lewis Central 16

North Polk 35, North Scott 7

Friday’s Scores

CLASS 1A

Grundy Center 42, Wilton 7

Dike-New Hartford 24, Hinton 18

CLASS 5A

Valley 28, Dowling Catholic 21

Southeast Polk 38, Iowa City Liberty 35

Saturday’s Games

CLASS 2A

Spirit Lake vs. PCM, Monroe, 10 a.m.

Van Meter vs. West Lyon, 1 p.m.

CLASS 3A

Dubuque Wahlert vs. Sergeant Bluff-Luton, 4 p.m.

Mount Vernon vs. Humboldt, 7 p.m.

——

Championship Finals

Thursday, Nov. 21

8-PLAYER

Gladbrook-Reinbeck (11-1) vs. Remsen-St. Mary’s (12-0), 9:30 a.m.

CLASS A

Tri-Center (11-1) vs. West Hancock (12-0), 1 p.m.

CLASS 1A

Grundy Center (12-0) vs. Dike-New Hartford (11-1), 4 p.m.

CLASS 4A

Pella (11-1) vs. North Polk (12-0), 7 p.m.

Friday, Nov. 22

CLASS 2A

Semifinal winners, 10 a.m.

CLASS 3A

Semifinal winners, 1 p.m.

CLASS 5A

West Des Moines Valley (10-2) vs. Southeast Polk (8-4), 7 p.m.

——

Grundy Center 42, Wilton 7

At Cedar Falls

Score by Quarter

WILTON 0 7 0 0 — 7

GRUNDY CTR. 7 21 7 7 — 42

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

GC — Brody Zinkula 23 pass from Judd Jirovsky (Aiden Betts kick), :06.

Second Quarter

GC — Tiernan Vokes 4 pass from Jirovsky (Betts kick), 8:09.

GC — Zinkula 3 run (Betts kick), :57.

WIL — Owen Hassell 21 pass from Drew Keith (Gatlin Rogers kick), :18.

GC — Zinkula 89 kickoff return (Betts kick), :06.

Third Quarter

GC — Devin Hinders 39 pass from Jirovsky (Betts kick), 8:31.

Fourth Quarter

GC — Jacob Hoy 57 interception return (Betts kick), 8:47.

TEAM STATISTICS

WIL GC

First Downs 14 17

Rushes-yards 25-85 31-134

Passing Yards 120 170

Comp-Att-Int 15-26-2 17-18-0

Total Offense 51-205 49-304

Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-1

Penalties-yards 0-0 3-40

Time of Poss. 22:59 25:01

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — WIL: Hassell 15-72, Keith 7-8, Hayden Hill 2-3, Jordan Dusenberry 1-2; GC: Zinkula 12-49, Jirovsky 12-49, Pete Lebo 6-21, Vokes 1-15.

PASSING — WIL: Keith 15-26-120-2; GC: Jirovsky 17-18-170-0.

RECEIVING — WIL: Dusenberry 4-44, Hassell 4-36, Kale McQuillen 5-20, Cade Souhrada 1-17, Rogers 1-3; GC: Vokes 9-72, Zinkula 4-47, Hinders 1-39, Eli Wegmann 2-6, Brayden Davie 1-6.

MISSED FIELD GOALS — GC, Betts 21.