Grundy Center 42, MFL MarMac 0: Spartans win Class 1A Iowa high school football championship
CEDAR FALLS- Grundy Center won its fifth Iowa high school football state championship in program history with a dominant 42-0 win over MFL MarMac at the UNI-Dome on Thursday.
The last time Grundy Center and MFL MarMac went head-to-head was in the 2019 Class A quarterfinals, where the Spartans knocked out the Bulldogs from state title contention. Three seasons later, the result was the same.
Since 2019, the Spartans have made five consecutive state title-game appearances and have won two state championships over the past two years, last year's was in Class A before moving up to 1A in 2023.
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Grundy Center outscored their playoff opponents 167-33 going into the state title game and continued their dominance under the bright lights Thursday.
After a quick three-and-out in the Spartans' opening drive, their defense quickly answered back. They forced a fumble on the Bulldogs' first offensive play of the game, which put them in scoring position.
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"Huge play in the game," said Coach Travis Zajac. "Defense being able to force a turnover immediately on that short field, we needed to pounce."
Two plays later, quarterback Colin Gordon punched in a 1-yard quarterback sneak to put the Spartans up 7-0 early in the first quarter.
The Spartans added to their lead with a 3-yard rush by Gordon to go up 13-0. A hard-fought 15-yard reception by Tiernan Vokes helped set up the Spartan touchdown.
The Spartans were clicking in the first half.
Gordon hooked up with Judd Jirovsky on a 37-yard reception to place the Spartans on the 1-yard line with about 10 minutes left in the second quarter. Brody Zinkula rushed in to extend the lead to 20-0.
They weren't done. Two drives later, Gordon found Tate Jirovsky for a 26-yard touchdown.
"Right before I threw that [touchdown] to Judd, he said, 'Look for me on that deep pattern' and then he made an insane catch on that one. He was kind of calling his own shot on that one, so I just gave him a chance and he came down with it," Gordon said. "The one with Tate I pretty much gave him a chance too. He's 6-foot-5, he's going to come down with most balls."
The Grundy Center defense held the Bulldogs' offense to just 80 total yards in the first half.
Despite throwing an interception to open the second half, Gordon continued to score for Grundy Center.
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He finished the game completing 17-of-25 passes for 242 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. The dual-threat senior also had two rushing touchdowns.
"[Two state titles in two years] is huge for our school. We have sports rolling here in Grundy right now," Gordon said. "To cap the fall season off with another state title is pretty special."
Grundy Center finished the season 11-2.
MFL MarMac running back Quinn McGeough, who had 143 rushing yards and five touchdowns in the semifinals, was held to just 35 yards on 14 carries with no touchdowns by Grundy Center. The Bulldogs finish the season with an 11-2 record.
This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Grundy Center dominates MFL MarMac for Iowa high school football title
