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The 2025 Class 1A state semifinal between Grundy Center and Iowa City Regina will go down in history.

How the story is written from the Nov. 21 game in the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls is punctuated in two ways.

For Grundy Center, it’s the final mark on a legendary period in Spartan football history, an incredible 50-game winning streak and three consecutive state championships snapped at the hands of the Regals, penning an exclamation point on a hard-nosed 31-12 victory over the Spartans and advancing to the title game for the first time since 2020, when Regina also knocked off Grundy Center.

The tales of this Spartan team, whose senior class won all but one game in their high school careers, will be hailed with superlatives and fond memories among those in Grundy Center and the surrounding communities for years, decades to come.

But that revelry and nostalgia can only come after the passage of time necessary to heal the sting of defeat in that one game, coming on the biggest stage in Iowa high school football.

“Everyone’s going to talk about the ride, but it’s hard to see that right now,” Grundy Center senior quarterback Judd Jirovsky said in the minutes after he walked off the turf in the UNI-Dome. “But I’m forever going to remember the relationships with these guys, and there’s no one else I’d go to war with.”

Regina held Grundy Center to its lowest point total in the past seven years of Spartan trips to the UNI-Dome, and the Spartans had to scratch and claw for each of those 12 points.

Aiden Betts drilled a 29-yard field goal in the first quarter to get points out of a stalled-out opening drive, and after a Regina touchdown and Grundy Center punt, the Spartans caught a break by recovering a Regal fumble and turned it into seven points on an Eli Wegmann 14-yard touchdown reception as Wegmann dived into the end zone to make a sensational catch in a big moment.

“[Eli’s] the one I’ll probably talk about with teams after this one as far as squeezing every drop of potential out of your body,” Grundy Center head coach Travis Zajac said. “That’s Eli Wegmann, He’s always got a smile on his face, he works his butt off, and it’s really raw for him right now, like it is for a lot of our seniors, but he’s a class act kid from a class act family, and I’m really gonna miss him.”

The teams traded interceptions on their next drives, and it was Regina taking advantage of Grundy Center’s turnover before halftime, leading 14-10 after a Kyle Tracy touchdown run.

Regina rushed for 289 total yards, including 21 carries for 167 yards for Savion Miller and Tracy running 21 times for 121 yards.

“Looking at the line of scrimmage play, they had pretty big kids that moved their feet well,” Zajac said. “Thinking about the running back (Miller) and the attention he’s getting in the recruiting process, rightfully so, it’s a pretty lethal combination.”

The Regals kicked a field goal on the opening drive of the second half, and the Spartans had to punt again but punt coverage pinned the Regals at their own 1, and Aiden Hook flew into the end zone to clobber Tracy for a safety and make it 17-12 with seven seconds left in the third quarter.

The Spartans’ next drive after the safety kick fizzled out in the red zone, part of a day where the Spartans went 5-of-15 on third down and 2-of-4 on fourth down.

“We didn’t capitalize on our possessions,” Zajac said. “They’re bleeding the clock, able to run the ball effectively, and they’re no dummies, they’ve got us in an uncomfortable situation playing from behind, and that got us off kilter.”

The ensuing 96-yard drive from the Regals featured bruising runs from Savion Miller, capped with a 1-yard Miller run and extending Regina’s lead to 24-12 with just over four minutes left in the contest.

“Their physicality was impressive,” Zajac said. “I thought our kids played as hard as they could, gave us all they had, but it just wasn’t good enough.”

The Spartans couldn’t get anything going on their next drive, as three consecutive incomplete passes gave the ball back to the Regals with victory virtually assured. Regina kept pounding the ball, and Tracy scored another touchdown with 41 seconds remaining.

“We knew we had a chance the whole way through,” Wegmann said. “The score kinda got away from us at the end there, but the game was closer than that, and we knew we could get them if we played them again.”

For 14 Spartan seniors, it was their final time carrying their shield out of the UNI-Dome.

The rest of the Spartans, from the juniors on down, will take over and begin writing the next chapter of Spartan history.

Jirovsky insisted that there’s no need to go out there and focus on win streaks or any other statistics for the younger Spartans.

“Just understand how much this sucks. Use it as motivation,” Jirovsky said of his message to the next guys up for the Spartans. “I trust those guys and the work they’ve put in so far, and trust the coaching staff to develop them. They just have to continue to work hard, and don’t take this for granted, because you never know when it’s going to come up and get you.”

For Grundy Center head coach Travis Zajac and his coaching staff, it’s the end of an impressive era that featured back-to-back-to-back state titles and six consecutive appearances in the state championship game, all for a coach in Zajac who was hired after a winless season in his final year of coaching at Dubuque Wahlert.

“I really struggled as a head coach at Wahlert,” Zajac said. “Grundy Center took a flyer on me, moved my family halfway across the state and welcomed us with open arms. It’s been a wonderful run, but it’s not over yet. … After the award ceremony, I was trying to wave and scream at the stands to thank our community, because they love us and support us through thick and thin, but I think it’s always about how we’ve played. We try to do the right things more often than not, and the kids understand they’ve won with class. Now, they’ve lost with class. And I couldn’t be any prouder of them.”