Fans from all along Highway 175 packed into Spartan Stadium in Grundy Center for a top-4 clash between the Spartans and South Hardin on Friday, Oct. 4.

The homecoming matchup was one of the most competitive in recent memory for a Grundy Center team putting a massive 44-game winning streak on the line against their rivals to the west.

Ultimately, the Spartans rose to that challenge to defeat the Tigers, 21-12, making it 45 wins in a row and sitting alone atop the standings in Class 1A District 3.

Grundy Center, ranked second in Class 1A, improved to 6-0 overall and 3-0 in district; fourth-ranked South Hardin slipped to 5-1 and 2-1.

“It’s a really gritty, gutsy win against a high-quality opponent,” Grundy Center head coach Travis Zajac said. “It wasn’t the cleanest, … but our kids just endured and fought for 48 minutes and found a way to win the game.”

After scoring first on a touchdown reception by Eli Wegmann midway through the first quarter, Grundy Center struggled to put together a clean offensive drive, hampered by penalties or other miscues, which opened the door later in the second quarter for a South Hardin touchdown run by Peyton Welch; a blocked PAT by Brannen Jensen allowed the Spartans to head to the locker room up 7-6 at halftime, but the air was tense for the hosts.

“There’s always that when you play a tight game, for as many blowouts and lopsided scores we’ve had, sometimes it’s a little shellshock,” Zajac said. “But our demeanor as coaches is really important in those moments, you can’t lose your stuff, you can’t yell and scream, it’s about coaching.”

Wegmann made his move on defense this time, grabbing an interception on South Hardin’s opening drive of the half that set up Grundy Center in Tiger territory.

“It was going to be a fight and they’re a scrappy bunch that was going to get the ball back to start the second half, and we had to make a play on defense,” Zajac said. “Eli makes a play on defense, and here we go.”

The Spartans launched a scoring drive capped by a 15-yard Pete Lebo touchdown run that made it 14-6 Spartans after the Aiden Betts point-after kick.

South Hardin mustered a response at the very start of the fourth quarter to end a 9-play, 82-yard drive with a 13-yard touchdown pass from Welch to Sam Benson. The Tigers lined up for two and went for the tie, but Welch was unable to run the ball in, stopped by Ryder Slifer, to keep the Spartans ahead, 14-12.

With the need for either points or to just keep South Hardin’s offense off the field as long as possible, Grundy Center constructed a drive that accomplished both, a 13-play, 71-yard drive that killed almost nine minutes off the clock in the fourth quarter.

The Spartans had two third-down conversions on that drive, and on 3rd-and-goal Judd Jirovsky plunged in from one yard out; Betts delivered a crucial point-after kick to push it to a two-possession game with just three minutes to play.

“I’m super proud of the guys for fighting through the adversity and continuing to play, bend don’t break,” Jirovsky said. “I trust the coaches and the adjustments they make and I’m just trying to make the best reads I can and when it’s not there, I’ll take off and run. I never panic in that department.”

Jirovsky rushed 21 times for 134 yards and a score as South Hardin flushed him from the pocket again and again, but had trouble corralling him in the open field.

“We were a little slow to make some adjustments in the throwing game to help Judd out, and that’s maybe a stubborn streak on my part,” Zajac said. “But the decision you have to make is, when the game’s tight, to get the ball into your playmakers’ hands, and for Judd to be able to do what he does, and the guys up front doing a solid job in covering him up, he was able to run through some contact, blow up a bunch of tackles and find a way to score the ball.”

Friday’s game was the closest in terms of margin of victory for the Spartans since a 21-14 win at Waterloo Columbus on Sept. 21, 2023.

“They’re a really great team,” Wegmann said of South Hardin. “They gave us their best and it was a great matchup. … The atmosphere was the greatest aspect here, packed on both sides, people here for homecoming, my mind was blown when I came out here.”

“The guys just keep fighting, and we’re going to go all minutes of the game,” Jirovsky added.