Aplington-Parkersburg and Grundy Center will meet in Friday’s football season opener at Spartan Stadium, a game that’ll air on 99 The Wave.
Coming off three straight state titles and entering on a 39-game win streak, the Spartans are widely considered a favorite to take the top prize in Class 1A yet again. Senior Judd Jirovsky is the reigning Class 1A all-state team captain, and is back to lead the team at quarterback and defensive back. Several other key playmakers from last year are back, but Head Coach Travis Zajac says it’ll be crucial to get some of the new starters up to speed in game situations.
“New year, new kids and yeah, we’ve got some faces coming back and some really talented kids coming back,” Zajac says. “We are breaking in some new kids as well and trying to continue to sort through those pieces and the kids that are going to contribute, some rotations of positions and things like that. But for us, when we do possess the ball, it’s just can we extend drives? The mantra of getting the first downs on your drive, and good things happen after that. It’s been a tried and true formula for us. For us, the possessions are going to be at a premium. We want to try to keep the ball away from the opponent as many times as we can. I feel good about our running back position, offensive line, Judd will make good decisions. If we take care of the football, it should be a good offensive game for us.”
The Falcons are coming off a 2-7 season and will be led by several veteran playmakers. Benny Waller is back as the starting quarterback. Running backs Mason Pruisner, Creyton Eberhart and Devan Eberhart each contributed in big ways last year and will be counted on for continued production. First-year head coach Jeff Pikna says the team is embracing the role as underdogs.
“One thing, especially when you’re starting off your season with such a good team, is not being afraid to play your ball,” Pikna says. “Not putting too much thought and too much power into the other team to control how you act and how you feel and how you play. Going out there and doing it the same way you would do it, whether it’s against a scout team in practice or however, why change your tempo? Why change your momentum? Why change the way you go about things? It’s getting that through the heads, I would say, is the biggest step to try to get over when you’re going against a team like that. And same thing next week with Dike-New Hartford. But it’s just getting them to believe that just because there’s a good team on the other side of the ball doesn’t mean we have to stop being us. So getting them to get to that point has probably been the biggest challenge, but they’re right there.”
Pregame coverage will start at 6:15 p.m., followed by the kickoff at 7:00.
Jeff Pikna interview:
Travis Zajac interview:
