What we learned from Bishop Garrigan's 39-30 8-player Iowa football state title win over Bedford
CEDAR FALLS — Bishop Garrigan earned its second Iowa high school state football championship in program history, and the first since 1985, with a 39-30 victory over Bedford in the 8-player title game on Thursday.
The Golden Bears fell behind 8-0, but then scored 31 of the next 37 points to take control and cap an improbable 12-1 run that included playoff wins over traditional superpowers Remsen St. Mary's, CAM and Winfield Mt. Union.
"There is nothing that compares to this," said Golden Bears quarterback Tate Foertsch. "Looking at these seniors, the guys who have played three years — they weren't very good. This is fun for these seniors and fun for everybody. It's nothing like I've ever felt before."
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Bishop Garrigan was just 3-5 a year ago and 8-17 over the previous three years. The Golden Bears suffered a 42-34 loss at Fort Dodge St. Edmond in their opener this season.
“We lost to St. Eds and it was demoralizing,” Foertsch said. “But then we come out and beat West Bend-Mallard (36-31) and that really got us going. I trust everything with these guys. It's not just one guy, it's everybody. Nobody believed in us and it's just nice to come out here and prove people wrong."
Foertsch was the difference maker for Bishop Garrigan.
He hooked up with Justin Bauer on a 40-yard touchdown pass and then scored on a 24-yard run to put the Golden Bears up 16-8 in the second quarter. Bedford scored a touchdown just before halftime, but in the third quarter, Foertsch found Drew Lappe on a 16-yard touchdown pass to cap a 13-play, 65-yard drive that ate seven minutes and 12 seconds to regain momentum for his team.
Bishop Garrigan added another touchdown on a 2-yard Ethan Marson run early in the fourth quarter to go up 31-14. Bedford never got within one score after that.
For the game, Foertsch completed 7-of-10 passes for 109 yards and two touchdowns. The talented sophomore also ran for 82 yards.
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"I really don't care about my own performances," Foertsch said. "We came in, we knew we were going to try to run the ball, but if we can't run the ball we've got to be able to pass it. These three wide receivers catch everything. It's just insane."
Bauer had three catches for 54 yards, Drew Lappe two for 28 yards, Benjy Trainer added one for 19 yards and Sam Plathe chipped in one more for eight yards. Caden Roethler ran for 106 yards and one score on 25 carries for the Golden Bears.
Bishop Garrigan was also stout on defense. Bedford entered the game averaging over 268 yards rushing and the Golden Bears held the Bulldogs to 186 yards on Thursday.
"We're a good run-stopping team," said Roethler, who had six tackles at linebacker. "We held CAM, Remsen St. Mary's and all of these good rushing teams to decently small rushing yards. We did it again today. We had our big boys up front, our linebackers then read the ball and get to know where the play is going."
The championship game loss was the first of the season for Bedford. The Bulldogs finished the season 12-1.
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"We have nothing to hang our head on," said Bedford quarterback Conner Nally. "Last year was the first year since 2016 we made the playoffs and this year everyone found the weight room and did their thing. It's the reason we got here."
Nally ran for three touchdowns and completed 8-of-12 passes for 92 yards and a score. Silas Walston scored the game's opening touchdown on a 40-yard run, and he finished with 106 yards rushing on 15 carries for the Bulldogs.
Cal Peterman was the top Bedford receiver with three receptions for 45 yards. Dalton Swartz and Ashton Nally led the Bulldogs in tackles with 8.5 apiece.
This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Bishop Garrigan wins 8-player Iowa high school football championship
