Time runs out on Grundy Center football's title bout with West Hancock

CEDAR FALLS – The Grundy Center football team thought they'd get one more shot at the end zone.

Spartan quarterback Logan Knaack had spiked the ball at the West Hancock 9-yard line with at least one second left on the game clock in a Class A championship at the UNI-Dome on Thursday.

But then the clock rolled to 0:00.

Two officials gathered at the line of scrimmage, and an exhilarating finish between two of the best small-school football programs in Iowa sputtered to a halt as the official signaled for the end of the game; a referee stoppage in a heavyweight prizefight.

That did not mute West Hancock's celebration, undefeated state champions for the second time in three years - both times surmounting the Spartans in the finale - by a 19-14 final score.

Grundy Center, some eyes bleary with all-too-familiar tears, and some steeped in stoic frustration or disappointment, hoisted the state runner-up trophy for a third-consecutive season. The Spartans finish 11-2.

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The crowdsourced assertions regarding the finish, for lack of one from the game's arbiters, is that maybe two seconds was not a reasonable amount of time to allow officials to be in position for Grundy Center to spike the ball after Knaack had scrambled to the 9-yard line to stop the clock with a first down. Or maybe Grundy Center wasn't lined up properly anyway. But maybe Grundy Center should have had three extra seconds that were run off the game clock when a play was whistled dead on a false start earlier in the drive. Or maybe Grundy Center should have lost more time on that false start and Knaack's spike timing is moot.

Grundy Center head coach Travis Zajac was left at a loss for words.

"I've spent the last 10 minutes trying to explain to them what happened in the game," Zajac said in a post-game media scrum. "… To come up short the way we did and not be able to offer an explanation to them, that's a hard pill to swallow."

Trailing 19-7 after West Hancock had scored on the opening drive of the second half, Grundy Center appeared to finally have something going with 8:48 left in the fourth quarter on a Dayne Zinkula touchdown run and Colin Gordon kick to get within five.

On West Hancock's first play of the ensuing drive, a fumble forced by Clay Saak was recovered by Dexter Whitehill at the Eagles' 25-yard line.

With a golden opportunity to capitalize and take the lead, the Eagle defense instead stood up the Spartans for a four-and-out after a short rush and three incomplete passes, including a pass break-up on 4th down by Kane Zuehl.

West Hancock converted two first downs on their next offensive drive, but the Spartan defense held firm enough to give Grundy Center a chance to put together a game-winning drive starting at their own 20-yard line.

"That was a big stop by our defense," Dayne Zinkula said. "I was confident that we were going to get it done [on offense], but we just couldn't get the spike down."

The Spartans' final drive included a defensive pass interference moved the chains for the Spartans on 3rd-and-long, then runs from Zinkula and a fourth-down scamper from Knaack that got the Spartans across midfield.

Knaack hit Whitehill for 13 yards going out-of-bounds and after a short run out of bounds and an incomplete pass, Knaack ran through the open field, one last display for the talented quarterback that has been under center for all three Dome trips, evading tacklers until finally being brought down after gaining 15 yards to the nine.

Grundy Center was out of timeouts.

"There was only one guy in the box, everybody else was back, so we knew it was going to be a play like that, we just didn't get it off in time," Knaack said.

The end result, with the Spartans' final play basically being a spike into the ground, was more of a knife to the Spartans' heart than any broken-up pass or run short of the goal line would have been.

"It was heartbreaking, we wanted one final shot at the end zone," Brayden Sawyer said. "We didn't get it. But it is what it is. I love this team."

The Spartans marched downfield on the opening drive of the game, a 13-play, 70-yard drive capped by a Knaack sneak. The Eagles were able to answer within three minutes on a Braden Walk 24-yard run to tie the game at 7-7.

Grundy's second drive bled into the second quarter, and the Spartans were on the West Hancock 30 when a Knaack pass deflected off a Spartan receiver's hands and into Kane Zuehl's grasp for an Eagle interception.

West Hancock turned it into points on an 11-play drive capped by Matthew Francis' bruising 19-yard run into the end zone. The Eagles led 13-7 at halftime.

At the start of the second half, West Hancock scored again after a trick play led to a touchdown pass from Mitchell Smith to Rylan Barnes for 34 yards.

"It was a good play call by them," Zajac said. "They're so run heavy and we bit on that."

Brayden Sawyer added: "We couldn't get down on ourselves. We had to keep our heads up."

The Spartans were not finished. They battled into West Hancock's red zone on the next drive, only for the Eagles to stop them short on a 4th-down pass that didn't move the chains.

The Grundy defense turned around and got a three-and-out that launched into Grundy's second scoring drive, keyed by a 31-yard pass play from Knaack to Whitehill.

"We scrapped and we fought and we were able to stop the run, were able to get a turnover," Zajac said. "We played as well as we could to earn a shot to win the football game."

Francis finished with 25 carries for 119 yards and a score. Walk added nine carries, 67 yards, and a score.

"We had to get multiple kids to the ball, it takes a couple kids to tackle [Francis]," Sawyer said. "We did that better than the first half."

Grundy outgained West Hancock in total offense, 344-251. In the end, the Eagles defended the goal line one more time than the Spartans.

"It was about making them earn everything they got," West Hancock coach Mark Sanger said. "They moved up and down the field on us and we turned them away when we had to in the end. … We didn't take away a lot from them, but we were fortunate enough to keep them out of the end zone in the end."

Grundy Center's senior group finishes 33-5 in these last three state runner-up seasons.

"There was a lot of work by a lot of people put in this offseason," Knaack said. "I've never seen a group more motivated than this one to get their chance to come back here. We knew we lost a lot of seniors last year. People had to step up and they really did."

It's too early to say now where Grundy Center will land next year as Cole Lehr, Dexter Whitehill, Logan Knaack, Dayne Zinkula, Brayden Sawyer, Bryce Greiner, Cole Richtsmeier, Trent Greiner, Conner Koch and Sloan Klar walk off the UNI-Dome turf for the last time.

"They're incredibly prideful," Zajac said. "We haven't found a way to win one of these yet. But we'll continue to work and put in the time because it's not a secret that if the kids are committed and willing to invest, you'll get a chance to be successful. It doesn't hurt that they were uber-talented, but they're just a special group of kids.

"The program is being left in very good hands by our 10 seniors. We need to continue to do what we do and improve where we need to to put ourselves in a position to compete for one of these again."

Knaack has been in the driver's seat for Grundy Center's transformation over the years.

"The culture is changing," Knaack said. "Coach Conger and Coach Muller change it in the weight room, Coach Zajac changes it on the field. It's an amazing feeling. I love this group of guys and I'm really gonna miss them."