Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

CEDAR FALLS – There will be a new champion in Class 1A this season.

Regina and its running game made sure of that on Friday.

Third-ranked Regina (12-0) ran for 289 yards and rolled up 411 yards of total offense while snapping the 50-game winning streak for three-time defending state champion Grundy Center with a 31-12 win in a Class 1A semifinal at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls.

“We treated it like it was David versus Goliath,” Regina senior quarterback Kyle Tracy said. “This is a Goliath team that has won 50 games in a row and we came out with a slingshot to represent that we were David in this matchup, we were the underdogs and we’ve got nothing to lose.”

Tracy rushed for 121 yards and two touchdowns and junior running back Savion Miller ran for 167 yards and a score as Regina returned to the state title game for the 13^th time in program history.

Regina will face top-ranked and last year’s Class 2A state champion West Lyon (12-0) in the 1A state title game on Thursday at 4 p.m.

West Lyon defeated South Hardin 21-7 in the second 1A semifinal.

The loss was the first loss for Grundy Center since the 2021 Class A title game and stopped the Spartans from appearing in the state title game for a seventh consecutive season.

“We knew they are talented, they’ve won 50 in a row for a reason, they’ve played for six straight state titles for a reason,” Regina coach Dustin Elsbury said. “They play the right way, they play physical, they are disciplined and we knew there would be a lot of ups and downs in the game and we just had to weather the storm.”

Regina steady and methodically pulled away in the second half.

After allowing 156 total yards and 10 points in the first half the Regina defense didn’t allow a point while limiting Grundy Center to 111 total yards after halftime.

Regina picked off Grundy Center quarterback Judd Jirovsky three times and had two sacks while holding the Spartans to their lowest point total since they scored seven in the 2023 season opener.

“We just got comfortable in the game, we had a great scheme from our coaches where we forced them to go through the air and our guys on the back side had one of their best games of the year,” Regina senior defensive back Drew Greve said. “Our defensive line, our linebackers, I can’t say enough about how well they played.”

Still, Regina wasn’t in control until Miller scored on a 1-yard plunge with 4:13 remaining to cap a 11-play, 96-yard drive that gave Regina a 24-12 lead.

Miller carried nine times for 82 yards on the 96-yard touchdown march that took 4:56 off the clock and all but put the game away.

“I kept getting more and more faith in my linemen and they were going insane all game,” Miller said. “That whole drive they were blocking amazing and I was able to make a couple of guys miss and get some yards.”

Grundy Center (11-1) marched 68 yards to the Regina 15 yard line on the game’s opening possession but settled for a 29 yard field goal by Aiden Betts.

Regina answered immediately.

Tracy connected with Greve for a 37-yard touchdown pass on a second-and-20 play to give Regina a 7-3 lead with 4:58 remaining in the opening quarter.

“That was really the play that got us going,” Greve said. “We had a couple of breakdowns on the first drive, we rallied together and forced a field goal and I think that play and a big run from Savion a couple of plays before really opened up the gates.”

Grundy Center took advantage of a short field following a Regina fumble to take a 10-7 lead.

Jirovsky found Eli Wegmann for a 14-yard touchdown to give the Spartans a 10-7 lead with 11:49 remaining in the first half.

It was the Regina defense that swung the momentum back to the Regals.

Greve picked off a Jirovsky pass near the goal line and returned it 39 yards to the 40.

Seven plays later Tracy scored on a 12-yard run to give Regina a 14-10 lead it would never give up.

“Football games are tough, there are going to be ups, there are going to be downs,” Tracy said. “But the winners are able to band together and stick together and have the team chemistry to come back.”

After halftime Regina began to rely on its run game.

The Regals opened the third quarter with a 16-play, 64-yard drive that ended with a 31 yard Gabe Hegelheimer field goal that pushed the lead to 17-10.

Grundy Center sacked Tracy in the endzone for a safety to cut the lead to 17-12 with seven seconds left in the third quarter.

However, James Whisler picked off Jirovsky on fourth-and-eight to end the next Grundy Center drive and Regina followed with it’s game-clinching 96-yard drive fueled by Miller.

“If we are winning late in the game we are going to run the football,” Miller said. “We were just going to run our base stuff and our run was working all game so we stuck with that.”

Tracy finished 6-of-13 passes for 122 yards and a touchdown with Greve catching two passes for 44 yards and Tate Wallace catching two for 40.

Wallace had a team-high seven tackles with 2.5 for loss and two pass breakups from his defensive end spot.

Fellow defensive end Will Litton had 2.5 tackles for loss and half a sack among his six tackles while Roan Eckhoff had six tackles, 2.5 for loss and a sack.

Greve picked off two passes and had five tackles and Whisler added a pick.

“It means a lot to the guys because we knew what we were going up against but at the same time it’s always been about us and our team and we knew we were capable of taking down anybody that stepped across from us this year,” Elsbury said. “We knew we had the talent, we had the work ethic in our room to get it done this year.”

ICR                 GC

First downs                24                    16

Rushes-yards             45-289             28-71

Comp-Att-Int            6-13-2             18-35-3

Passing yards             122                  196

Total yards                411                  267

Punts-Avg.                 0-0                   3-37.7

Fumbles-lost              1-1                   0-0

Penalties-yards          6-40                 1-10

Regina                           7  7  3  14  –  31

Grundy Center          3  7  2   0   –  12         

GC – Aiden Betts 29 field goal

ICR – Drew Greve 37 pass from Kyle Tracy (Gabriel Hegelheimer kick)

GC – Eli Wegmann 14 pass from Judd Jirovsky (Betts kick)

ICR – Kyle Tracy 12 run (Hegelheimer kick)

ICR – Hegelheimer 31 field goal

GC – Team safety

ICR – Savion Miller 1 run (Hegelheimer kick)

ICR – Tracy 5 run (Hegelheimer kick)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – ICR: Savion Miller 21-167; Kyle Tracy 21-121; Aaron Honore 1-4, Gabriel Hegelheimer 1-0, Team 1-(-3). GC: Judd Jirovsky 16-65, Hayden Geerdes 4-5, Pete Lebo 7-3, Team 1-(-2).

PASSING – ICR: Kyle Tracy 6-13-2 122. GC: Judd Jirovsky 18-35-3 196.

RECEIVING – ICR: Drew Greve 2-44, Tate Wallace 2-40, Edwin Gangba 1-38, Carter Slager 1-0. GC: Eli Wegmann 9-76, Brayden Davie 4-52, Pete Lebo 2-38, Devin Hinders 2-16, Hayden Geerdes 1-14.

Did you enjoy this subscription free article? Help keep Your Prep Sports free by donating