The #1 (1A) (Radio Iowa) Grundy Center football team passed for 201 yards and scored 35 points in the first half, paving the way for a 56-8 win over #10 (1A) (Radio Iowa) Clarion-Goldfield-Dows on Friday. It was the Spartans 44th win in a row.
Grundy Center on their first possession punched in a one yard score by Judd Jirovsky to go up 7-0 late in the first. Following a pair of interceptions, the Spartans struck through the air with a 22 yard touchdown reception by Cash Combs and a 22 yard touchdown reception by Devin Hinders to go up 21-0 early in the second quarter. The Spartans closed out the half with 26 yard and 33 yard touchdown receptions by Eli Wegmann to increase their advantage to 35-0. The Cowboys were limited to 38 yards of offense in the first half. The Spartans scored three times in the second half, with an 80 yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Hayden Geerdes and a 22 yard touchdown run by Jirovsky in the third quarter, and a 63 yard touchdown run by Cooper Keller to go up 56-0 early in the fourth quarter. The Cowboys ended the shutout with a run only 12 play drive concluded by a nine yard touchdown run by Colin Sesker with 2:46 to go. Spartans Head Coach Travis Zajac’s perspective on Jirovsky’s and the Spartan defenses standout performance.
“He’s one of the most dominant players in the state, regardless of class. When he is going the right way, he’s a handful in everything that he does. He made excellent decisions offensively. He was able to spread the ball around to multiple different receivers, able to get involved in the run game and then defensively with the interceptions. He also had several tackles on the night as well. He was phenomenal,” says Zajac. “We thought we were going to be able to match the physicality that they want to play with and then get as many guys to the football as possible to tackle it. We did that pretty consistently last night. It was a dominant performance and I’m incredibly proud of those kids.”
Jirovsky went 16-16 with 201 passing yards and six touchdowns (four passing and two rushing). Jirovsky also had two interceptions defensively. Wegmann had 96 receiving yards and two touchdowns for the Spartans.
Cowboys Head Coach Caleb Vogel shares the benefit of facing a team like the Spartans.
“Those are the type of games, if you look at it, are teams you want to play against. It shows the true character of the team that you have and the ability that they have. We do have a great group of kids. These guys have worked their butt off. It’s not like we were not prepared going into the game at all. The kids were focused in all week, they’re flying around and having fun. They’re just a great team,” says Vogel. “They’re fast. They’re very well coached. They’ve won a lot of games. We had guys stepping up in different spots and continued to play super hard for us on both sides of the ball. We will continue to keep rolling. It’s a good test for us. We’re just going to get ready for next week.”
Selvin Gonzalez had 61 rushing yards and Joel Meier had 46 rushing yards. Sesker had a rushing touchdown to lead the Cowboys.
Clarion-Goldfield-Dows (3-2, 1-1 1A-3) will host Eagle Grove for senior night. Grundy Center (5-0, 2-0 1A-3) will host #3 (1A) South Hardin for homecoming in Week 6.
