The #1 (1A) Grundy Center and #2 (1A) Dike-New Hartford football teams will play in 1A semifinals inside the UNI-Dome as part of a doubleheader that’ll air on 99 The Wave today. The Spartans will take on #6 (1A) Wilton at 10:00 a.m. and the Wolverines will play #3 (1A) Hinton at 1:00 p.m., with the winners advancing to next week’s championship game. Pregame coverage will precede each kickoff by 30 minutes.
The two-time defending state champion Spartans (11-0) will bring a 37-game win streak into the game, which dates to the start of the 2022 season. Head Coach Travis Zajac hopes his team is able to cherish the opportunity.
“It’s something that’s been fairly repetitive in our program in the last couple years, but the goal is to never take it for granted,” Zajac says. “Success is earned, and being able to just still be a team together and do all the things together with meetings and practices and lifts, and all of the things that go along with it. And obviously playing the game, just an abundance of gratitude. I think our kids have done a good job of always kind of putting that in the proper perspective, that we’re doing things that a ton of high school boys and teams in our state would love to be doing right now. We’re definitely not taking it for granted. We’re cherishing the opportunity to compete once again.”
Grundy Center has dispatched its playoff opponents with ease, including a 35-6 quarterfinal win at home over Sumner-Fredericksburg last week. Junior quarterback Judd Jirovsky has proven to be an x-factor, leading Class 1A with 39 touchdowns, including 22 passing with just one interception on the season.
Wilton (10-1) is coming off a 21-14 win at Iowa City Regina in last week’s quarterfinal, which avenged their only regular season loss. With quarterback Drew Keith’s dual-threat ability and stout running game, Zajac sees many similarities between the teams.
“They won their district because of tiebreaker stuff, and then had to go on the road in the quarterfinals and beat the one team that beat them in the regular season. They’ve got a lot of talented players and they do a lot of things stylistically that are similar to what we do. We’re excited for the opportunity to match up with those guys, and we’ll try to turn it into a physical football game.”
Travis Zajac interview:
“One of the first goals that our seniors had when we started to do our goal-setting way last spring was to get to the Dome,” Dike-New Hartford Head Coach Don Betts says. “They got to be there when they were freshmen the last time we were at the Dome, but they didn’t get to play, and they wanted to get back and have an opportunity to play on the field. So really happy for our seniors that we’ve made it this far, but that wasn’t the only goal they had, so more work to be done.”
The Wolverines (10-1) have rolled through the playoffs, including a 36-19 win over #5 (1A) South Hardin in last week’s quarterfinal, where senior Noah Borcherding recorded his second straight four-touchdown game. His 27 rushing touchdowns and 1,603 rushing yards on the season are both the most in Class 1A.
Hinton (10-1) has had one of its best seasons in recent history. Having placed third in District 1 via a three-way tie, the Blackhawks were on the road for the first two rounds of the playoffs, but defeated Underwood 37-15 at home in last week’s quarterfinal. Betts on containing dual-threat quarterback Gabe Anderson.
“The big thing is to understand is that it’s not one person who’s going to stop a quarterback like that. It’s definitely a team effort. It’s everybody having their eyes on the right place. It’s everybody doing their job. They’ve got enough other weapons that if you focus too much on the quarterback, they’re going to hurt you other places. So it really does come down to a group effort. Everybody dialed in, focused on what their job is, and their eyes in the right place.”
Anderson has passed for nearly 1,000 yards, and is the team’s leading rusher with 197 carries for 1,131 yards, making him account for over half of the team’s total yards.
Pregame coverage will begin at 12:30 p.m., followed by the kickoff at 1:00. The winner will advance to the 1A championship game against either #1 (1A) Grundy Center or #6 (1A) Wilton.
Don Betts interview:
