Unbeatens East Marshall and Grundy Center meet in Class 1A District 4 opener (original) (raw)

T-R FILE PHOTOS - Grundy Center senior Tiernan Vokes (left) and East Marshall senior quarterback Jake Farrington (right) lead their respective football teams into a head-to-head collision with Friday’s Class 1A District 4 opener at Spartan Stadium in Grundy Center. Both teams enter the game with 3-0 records.

The last two undefeated football teams in the T-R coverage area will meet on Friday.

East Marshall, off to its best start since 2005, heads to top-ranked (1A) Grundy Center for a Week 4 clash with the two-time state champions at Spartan Stadium with a 7 p.m. kickoff.

“We’re looking forward to it and we’re telling our kids that Grundy probably is, too,” East Marshall coach Greg Lee said. “Program-wise, they’re one of the best in the state these last five years. It’s a huge challenge for us.”

The Mustangs have defeated BCLUW, Saydel and Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont thus far this season with the strength of 16 returning letterwinners from last year’s 2-7 squad.

“We’ve been able to execute on both sides of the ball,” Lee said. “This has been building for us for a while going back to last season, where we knew we were playing better football than the year before even with only two wins. The numbers are up, we’re more competitive, we’re a little bit bigger, faster, stronger, and slowly but surely we’re starting to see results.”

Jake Farrington is part of the senior leadership for a balanced Mustang offense with five passing touchdowns in his first three games, including two each to Eli Burns and Blake Neuroth. In the ground game, seniors Drew Wheater and Xavier Slifer average around 5 1/2 yards per carry and have each scored three rushing touchdowns so far this season.

“We’ve got more depth this year, particularly on the O-line and D-line where we’ve only got a couple kids playing two ways,” Lee said. “We had some opportunities to score against BCLUW that we didn’t take advantage of but to be able to play mostly the same kids from last year, these guys have grown from their experiences, and really took it into the next two games where we ran the ball effectively and been able to throw it, and that kind of 50-50 mix is exactly what we want.”

Defensively, junior Wyatt Stalzer leads the way with seven tackles for loss, and the Mustangs have also recorded nine takeaways in the first three games, including three interceptions for sophomore Jaxson Boswell.

It’s the opening week of district play for both teams — Grundy Center is currently riding a 29-game winning streak, which includes state titles in Class A (2022) and 1A.

“They’re loaded again, even with losing some good kids from last year, well-coached,” Lee said. “We believe we’ll show up, and we’ll measure ourselves against a team like that, look at it through our lens so that we can know how good we’re playing right now. Regardless of how the game goes, I think it’ll help us through the rest of district play.”

The Spartans immediately made a statement with a 21-7 win at home over preseason No. 1 Dike-New Hartford and have since been averaging over 40 points per game in wins over Aplington-Parkersburg and Pella Christian on the road.

“This year’s team is another team that approaches each week for what it is — an opportunity to improve,” said Grundy Center head coach Travis Zajac, in his sixth year with the Spartans. “One practice at a time, they’re putting a better product on the field every Friday night.”

Judd Jirovsky has immediately stepped in for all-state captain and 2023 T-R Football Player of the Year Colin Gordon at quarterback for the Spartans, completing 39 of 45 (86.7 percent) of his passes so far this season for 659 yards and eight touchdowns. Five of them have gone to all-state returner Tiernan Vokes, averaging 17.4 yards a catch with 313 yards total. Jirovsky has also scored four touchdowns on the ground on 25 carries.

“Judd’s been the epitome of consistency for us,” Zajac said. “He takes in the information every day, and everyone just feeds on him. He’s got a really good rapport and relationship with the receivers.

“Also, our offensive line play has improved dramatically over the last three weeks, which has helped us to establish the run so we can throw the ball downfield.”

Grundy Center’s defense continues to hold steady as well year-over-year, led by returning all-stater Ryker Thoren’s 18 tackles through three games. Pete Lebo adds 14 1/2 tackles and Ryder Slifer has 7 1/2 tackles with two for a loss.

Thoren, a three-year starter, is picking up where he left off at inside linebacker from last season.

“That’s a benefit for him that we didn’t have to move him at all,” Zajac said. “He plays fast. He’s a really smart, strong kid that can run well and is a really, really good tackler, high energy, and definitely has a very physical presence for us.

“The recipe for us has just been mapping out for our kids exactly what they’re going to see from the opponent, and having a teaching progression there so that by Friday night, our kids have a really good idea of what they’re going to see. … We’ve played good defense historically and we’re off to a really good start again.”

It’ll be home sweet homecoming for Grundy Center on Friday — in addition to the Spartans’ lengthy winning streak, they’ve won 29 consecutive games at home dating back to 2019.

That includes a 49-0 drubbing of East Marshall last season — but Zajac and the Spartans go into Friday expecting a different look from the Mustangs.

“East Marshall is a vastly improved football team from the one we played last year,” Zajac said. “They took their lumps and now they’re off to a 3-0 start, so we’re definitely not underestimating it or taking it lightly — they’re an undefeated football team coming into our place, and we’re going to treat them in kind. We’re excited to play our brand of football with those guys.”