The Aplington-Parkersburg football team will host #2 (1A) Grundy Center in Friday’s Week 2 game, which will air on 99 The Wave.
The Falcons (0-1) are coming off last week’s 14-0 loss at Union, where the offense was unable to benefit from a serviceable defensive performance. Head Coach Aaron Thomas says the offense has been a focal point this week.
“Just looking at what are areas we can make maybe some easier reads for Benny Waller, so it’s not maybe looking at the whole field when we try to get a little more of our passing game going,” Thomas says. “And then trying to figure out where were our mistakes in the offensive line, because going back watching the tape, it’d be just one guy here or there and it wasn’t the same person. Or if we did have the hole, our backs missed the hole. So that’s been something we’ve really tried to focus in on this week. And knowing we may not have a 40-yard run, but we gotta be able to get that four or five yards, especially on first down, keep the ball in our possession, try to shorten the game against an extremely talented, Grundy Center team.”
Defensively, the Falcons recorded four sacks and 11 tackles for loss, and Jackson Mulder led with six tackles and a sack last week.
Grundy Center (1-0) is coming off last week’s 21-7 win over #6 (1A) Dike-New Hartford, a statement win according to coach Travis Zajac. He says continuing to refine the basics with a large roster turnover has and will continue to be a key for his team.
“In all three phases, it’s just, let’s put a cleaner product on the field than we did last Friday” Zajac says. “And that’s kind of been our MO as a program, every week let’s just be a little bit better at the fundamentals of blocking and tackling and all those things that are going to help us be successful at the end of the game on the scoreboard. I think the balance part offensively is really what we strive for, makes us very difficult to defend. We can run it or throw it out of any of our sets. We’ve got dangerous kids in a lot of different position groups in our offensive line. We really came together, especially in the second half against Dike-New Hartford, and looking to capitalize on that momentum as we work in Week 2.”
First-year starting quarterback Judd Jirovsky scored all three touchdowns last week, with two passing and one rushing. Tight end Tiernan Vokes caught both touchdown receptions.
It’ll be Grundy Center’s first visit to Ed Thomas Field since 2014. The Spartans won the meeting 31-7 at home last year.
Pregame coverage will begin at 6:15 p.m. with the Roling Ford Road to the Dome Warmup Show, followed by the kickoff at 7:00.
Travis Zajac interview:
Aaron Thomas interview:
