THREE CHEERS: Grundy Center claims third-straight state championship

The Spartans defeated county rival Dike-New Hartford in the Class 1A championship, 28-7, for a third consecutive state title and extended the program’s winning streak to 39 games in a row, hoisting the championship trophy at the UNI-Dome.

Grundy Center is the ninth team in Iowa high school football history to win at least three state titles in a row. It’s the sixth title in the school’s history, which currently ranks sixth among all schools in Iowa history. The Spartans’ 39-game winning streak is also tied for the 10th-longest in Iowa history, joining Crestland (1967-1972) in the all-time top 10.

History is more than just for record books at Grundy Center, though.

History also instructs the culture that head coach Travis Zajac has built brick-by-brick with his passionate assistant coaches, a culture which has swept through the community, seeping into the roots of family trees that entwine into a connected series of roots, with many families celebrating multiple sons under the UNI-Dome in recent years, and all of the families full-throated in their support as Spartan Nation.

T-R PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER – Grundy Center senior Klayton Freed (52) and teammates acknowledge their fans after claiming Thursday’s Class 1A state football championship with a 28-7 victory over Dike-New Hartford.

“The expectations are sky high, the standard is sky high,” Zajac said. “That’s a lot of weight for anybody, especially teenagers, and I can’t help but get emotional when I think about that. … That can be tough. But our seniors, year after year, set the tone for the younger ones and the other ones just kind of figure it out.”

Grundy Center junior quarterback Judd Jirovsky knows about those expectations, and once again exceeded them in Thursday’s championship.

D-NH had smothering pass coverage to neutralize star receiver Tiernan Vokes, and the Wolverines’ size up front had Jirovsky needing to improvise often, including a 33-yard scramble shedding D-NH tacklers to the end zone for the opening score of the game less than three minutes in.

“You play each other so many times that they have some ideas of what we’re trying to do,” Jirovsky said. “They did a good job of taking that away, but coach [Josh] Rekers and Zajac, they do a good job of instilling in me that if something’s not there, don’t be afraid of using your legs — and it worked in the end.”

Jirovsky ran 19 times for 121 yards and three touchdowns, including a 1-yard plunge to finish a second Spartan scoring drive in the first quarter — a drive set up by Jirovsky’s own long return on an interception of a Colin Meester pass.

T-R PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER – Grundy Center quarterback Judd Jirovsky stretches the football over the goal line for a 1-yard touchdown run during the first quarter of Thursday’s Class 1A state championship game against Dike-New Hartford at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls.

“They weren’t going to let Tiernan beat them,” Zajac said. “And I don’t blame them. But if you don’t have an answer for an athlete like Judd Jirovsky, it’s tough, especially playing a lot of man-to-man coverage, you turn your back on Judd and he breaks containment, he’s a handful to take to the ground.”

That 14-0 advantage was enough to get to halftime, chewing up 7 ½ minutes of clock with an offensive drive that didn’t result in Grundy Center points but kept D-NH’s offense off the field. Jirovsky ran in a 10-yard touchdown run for the Spartans’ first drive of the second half to make it 21-0 with 5:27 left in the third.

When the time came to take on D-NH’s offense, the Spartan defenders successfully contained D-NH’s leading rusher Noah Borcherding. Borcherding finished with 12 carries for 32 yards on Thursday, well under the senior’s average of 143 yards per game coming into the championship.

“He’s a really good running back, and I thought we did a pretty good job on him,” Thoren said. “Shutting down their run game was crucial to our success out there.”

Committing that much to run defense opened up Grundy to a passing attack from Meester and the Wolverines, including a 17-play, 94 yard drive with seven completed passes by Meester, capped by a 1-yard Borcherding run for the first points an opponent has scored on Grundy Center in 12 total quarters of action dating back to the 2021 Class A title game won by West Hancock.

T-R PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER – Grundy Center junior Ryder Slifer (64) flashes three fingers in the air after the Spartans defeated Dike-New Hartford 28-7 in Thursday’s Class 1A state football championship game. The Spartans claimed their third-straight state title with the win.

The touchdown made it 21-7 Grundy Center.

“Our defensive coaches and players really want those shutouts,” Zajac said. “But to limit the run game and keep them out of the end zone until the fourth quarter when we were already up by three scores — I’m not saying it was OK to give it up, but we were able to put it away in that fourth quarter.”

Jacob Hoy was the leading receiver on Thursday with two big catches for a total of 63 yards, moving the sticks and keeping Grundy’s offense on the field.

“He’s not only a great football player but a great kid,” Jirovsky said of Hoy. “He gets good grades, sets the standard in the weight room, and he just did a great job all game.”

Hoy is active in many extracurriculars, including as part of the FTC Robotics team Lactose Intolerance.

“It’s a sport that doesn’t get a lot of love, and I’m proud to represent them,” Hoy said.

Brody Zinkula provided an exclamation point with a 20-yard touchdown run to make it 28-7 with 2:11 left.

“We were joking in the huddle how we haven’t done a victory formation yet this season, we were just trying to get another first down and be able to take a knee,” Jirovsky said. “But we’ll definitely take the score. My job is super easy with all the guys I have around me, a great offensive line, Brody and Pete at running back, all my receiver weapons. Just awesome all year.”

An eternally grateful Zajac effused praise for his family on Thursday, including his son Ty, who has been with him on the sideline as a volunteer manager in his younger years, but this year was able to take a picture in full uniform as a freshman with his dad.

“It’s not an easy bargain being the coach’s kid,” Zajac said. “But I’ve always been honest with him that I wasn’t going to treat him any differently, I was going to coach him hard, and then once we got in the vehicle to go home, that could be the end of it unless he wanted to keep talking football. … To share that now with him in uniform is a very gratifying feeling as a dad.”

This year’s senior group — Dayton Myers, Brayden Wallis, Elias Cakerice, Jacob Hoy, Tiernan Vokes, Brody Zinkula, Ryker Thoren, Klayton Freed, and Remington Tack — were freshmen in the UNI-Dome like Ty Zajac once.

They learned and grew, and now many of them have the honor of being multi-year starters of an undefeated juggernaut of a Grundy Center football program.

“These guys are titans in high school sports in our community,” Zajac said. “It’s historic on a state level to win three consecutive titles. Those are some special boys, they come from really, really good families, some of which are colleagues of mine at school. I have a profound respect for them, I’m gonna miss them, and I love them very much.”

State Football Playoffs

At UNI-Dome, Cedar Falls

Championship Finals

Thursday, Nov. 21

8-PLAYER

Remsen-St. Mary’s 51, Gladbrook-Reinbeck 12

CLASS A

Tri-Center 14, West Hancock 10

CLASS 1A

Grundy Center 28, Dike-New Hartford 7

CLASS 4A

North Polk 24, Pella 14

Friday, Nov. 22

CLASS 2A

Spirit Lake (11-1) vs. West Lyon (12-0), 10 a.m.

CLASS 3A

Dubuque Wahlert (12-0) vs. Humboldt (11-1), 1 p.m.

CLASS 5A

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

Grundy Center 28, Dike-New Hartford 7

D-NH 0 0 0 7 — 7

GRUNDY CTR. 14 0 7 7 — 28

First Quarter

GC — Judd Jirovsky 33 run (Aiden Betts kick), 9:27.

GC — Jirovsky 1 run (Betts kick), 1:28.

Third Quarter

GC — Jirovsky 10 run (Betts kick), 5:27.

Fourth Quarter

DNH — Noah Borcherding 1 run (Keegan Bolhuis kick), 5:19.

GC — Brody Zinkula 20 run (Betts kick), 2:11.

TEAM STATISTICS

DNH GC

First downs 14 15

Rushes-yards 24-35 39-183

Passing yards 222 92

Comp-Att-Int 15-30-1 8-14-0

Total Offense 54-257 53-275

Fumbles-lost4-0 0-0

Penalties-yards 8-78 5-52

Time of Poss. 21:27 26:33

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — DNH: Borcherding 12-32, Colin Meester 12-3; GC: Jirovsky 19-121, Zinkula 13-61, Pete Lebo 3-7, TEAM 4-(minus-6).

PASSING — DNH: Meester 15-30-222-1; GC: Jirovsky 8-14-92-0.

RECEIVING — DNH: Devon Lotts 6-107, Jaiden Soppe 2-41, Borcherding 2-30, Tyson Bennett 1-14, Carson Costello 1-13, Jack Hoehns 2-9, Jake Reicks 1-8; GC: Jacob Hoy 2-63, Zinkula 3-15, Devin Hinders 1-5, Tiernan Vokes 1-5, Eli Wegmann 1-4.