Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – A year ago the unanimous goal for Regina was to return to the Class 1A semifinals.

A quarterfinal loss to Wilton stopped the Regals one win short of its first trip to the UNI-Dome in three seasons.

After that narrow miss a year ago the goal for the Regals this fall would naturally be to secure the semifinal spot it failed to snag last season right?

Not necessarily.

“Last year that was the team’s goal was ‘let’s get to the dome’,” Regina coach Dustin Elsbury said. “This year they said, ‘no that’s not enough’. Their goal was, ‘we want to come for it all, we’re going to win it all’.”

Regina gets a shot at making good on that goal starting on Friday.

Third-ranked Regina (11-0) will make its first semifinal appearance since 2020 on Friday when it faces second-ranked, three-time defending state champion Grundy Center (11-0) at 10 a.m. at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls.

“We haven’t been there for a while but all four years I’ve been here we’ve been talking about we want to be the best and this year we actually have the chance to do that,” Regina senior Greve said. “We’ve been talking about getting to the UNI-Dome the last couple of years and now we finally did that I don’t think that any of us have the attitude that it’s going to stop now.”

For a decade Regina was a regular at the Dome.

Regina made 10 consecutive semifinal appearances from 2010 to 2020 winning seven titles in that span.

The final title for Regina came in 2020 in Class A with a 52-28 win over Grundy Center.

Since that loss to Regina in the 2020 title game Grundy Center has gone 61-2 and brings a 50-game winning streak into Friday’s semifinal, the third longest in state history.

Regina, which won 56 games in a row from 2010 to 2014 for the state’s longest winning streak, relishes the opportunity that awaits in Grundy Center.

“They are definitely one of the best teams in 1A, one of the top teams in the state, but if we want to be the greatest, we’ve got to beat them,” Greve said. “To be the greatest we’ve got to beat the greatest.”
To beat Grundy Center the Regals will need to find a way to crack the Spartan defense.

Grundy Center is allowing just 5.5 points per game this season and hasn’t allowed more than 20 points in a game since Regina scored 52 in the 2020 title game.

“Class 1A is crazy top heavy. Grundy Center is a great team, great program, they do what they do. They’re super disciplined,” Elsbury said. “That’s what you want, in the dome, you want to be playing the best. You got to beat the best to be the best.

The Regina offense presents perhaps the greatest challenge Grundy Center has seen this season and beyond.

Regina averages 48.7 points and 383 total yards per game while posting an incredible 9.7 yards per play.

In three postseason wins the Regals are averaging 475 total yards per game and 12.4 yards per play.

“I know that we’re in three seed, but I know that we can get it done,” Regina junior offensive lineman Porter Shetler said. “I know we are confident about what we’ve done so far and what is in front of us.”

Regina senior quarter Kyle Tracy directs a dangerous Regal offense.

Tracy has completed 76 percent of his passes while throwing for 1,992 yards and 31 touchdowns and has also rushed for 436 yards and 10 touchdowns.

There are plenty of weapons for Tracy.

Junior tailback Savion Miller averages 8.8 yards per carry and has rushed for 819 yards and has 22 total touchdowns.

Tate Wallace has 35 receptions for 500 yards and nine touchdowns and Greve has caught 24 passes for 434 yards and four touchdowns.

“The biggest thing has just been like our selflessness,” Greve said. “As long as we put points on the board, every single player on the field is happy. We’ve got that ‘we are greater than me’ attitude and that’s fun to be around.”

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