The Grundy Center football team made clutch plays in big moments, and pulled away for a 35-13 win over Aplington-Parkersburg in Friday’s Week 1 game at Spartan Stadium, as aired on 99 The Wave.
Each team moved the ball effectively, but the Spartans won in the margins. On the game’s first drive, a high punt snap by AP allowed Eli Wegmann to scoop and score for a 7-0 lead. In the second quarter, Brayden Davie capitalized on a devastating block by Aiden Hook on a screen pass, and scored from 11 yards out for a 14-0 lead. The Falcons answered when Benny Waller found a wide open Wes Shirk for a 33-yard score, but Grundy Center marched down and finished a drive with a Judd Jirovsky touchdown run, making it 21-7 at halftime.
In the second half, Pete Lebo scampered in and delivered a stiff arm on a 15-yard touchdown run for a three-score lead. When AP quarterback Benny Waller appeared to break away for a long touchdown run, Jirovsky ran him down and swatted the ball free inside the five yard line, and it bounced through the end zone for a touchback. Then, Jirovsky found Devin Hinders for the longest score of the game.
With the result already settled, AP’s Mason Pruisner plunged in a short touchdown run to complete the scoring.
“Definitely things to work on,” Grundy Center senior Ryder Slifer says. “That’s what the coaches are gonna do, they’re gonna get us ready for each and every week, more film, more scouting reports, work harder in the weight room. But yeah we definitely got the fuzz off our antlers and worked really hard tonight.”
AP coach Jeff Pikna says the team met the challenge of performing to their standards regardless of the circumstances.
“Extremely proud of these guys,” Pikna says. “All last year, I was told that when stuff got hard, they gave up. And you want to talk about a dominant team opening up against three time state champs, they could have done that at any point. They could have done that when we had the muffed snap. We could have done that when we fumbled on the one and it went out the back, but they just never quit and they never stopped. And I could not be more proud of these guys.”
Waller rushed for 185 yards and passed for 81. Jirovsky had 123 passing yards and Pete Lebo rushed for 59.
Grundy Center will be at Columbus Catholic, and Aplington-Parkersburg will host Dike-New Hartford next week.
Jeff Pikna interview:
Ryder Slifer interview:
