In a matchup between two teams expected to be among the best in Class 1A this season, the defending champion #3 (1A) Grundy Center football team will host #1 (1A) Dike-New Hartford Friday to begin the season.
The Spartans are coming off last year’s 13-0 season, and have won 26 straight. But most personnel from those teams have graduated, opening opportunities for several players to earn their first varsity snaps. Head Coach Travis Zajac says the season opener, and non-district play as a whole, will be a great measuring stick for his team.
“There’s so many valuable lessons learned right off the gate in week one with Dike-New Hartford coming in,” Zajac says. “They return a lot of kids. They were a state quarterfinalist last year, they’re hungry. They’re going to be well-coached. They’re going to be very aggressive and play a very physical brand of football. So that’ll be a really good litmus test for us right off the gate. Our young kids that haven’t had a ton of varsity time, they need to be able to respond to that moment. We’re not going to have any sort of ease in to the level of physicality it’s going to take to play to really high level in Class 1A.”
Coming off a 7-4 season that featured a quarterfinal appearance, the Wolverines have the vast majority of last year’s starters back, including several playmakers at the offensive skill positions and quarterback Colin Meester. Head Coach Don Betts hopes to quickly get in sync in the first few games.
“We’re just going to look to become consistent,” Betts says. “I’m hoping that we can build some momentum through consistency. Last year I thought in our pre-district schedule we ended up being really inconsistent. Our goal this year is to be much more consistent on the offensive side, much more consistent on the defensive side, and build some momentum through that consistency.”
Grundy Center has won three straight in the series, including in Week 1 and the quarterfinals last year.
The kickoff will be at 7:00 p.m. at Spartan Stadium.
