The No. 1 ranked Grand Meadow football team didn’t play perfect, but it was able to hold off No. 4 ranked Spring Grove 20-18 in GM Friday.

SG drove all of the way to GM’s 17-yard line late in the fourth quarter, but a holding call on a second and seven set the Lions back and their drive stalled out after a sack by Blake Benson and a deflected pass by Michael Stejskal with 50 seconds left in the game.

The Lions had a chance to tie the game when Eli Pitts hauled in a 2-yard TD pass with 9:33 left in the game, but the Lions threw an incomplete pass on the game-tying two-point conversion attempt.

The Superlarks (2-0 overall, 2-0 SEC) used their defense to gain an advantage in the third quarter. After GM turned the ball over on downs in SG territory, Zach Myhre forced a fumble and Blake Olson recovered it. That led to a 1-yard TD run by Landon Jacobson to put the Larks up 20-12 with 4:40 left in the third.

The Larks trailed 12-7 with 4:19 left in the second quarter, but they put together a half-closing drive that was capped by a 3-yard TD run by Jacobson with 23 seconds left in the quarter.

SG (2-1 overall, 2-1 SEC) started the game with momentum as Dustin Vickerman scored a five-yard touchdown on fourth and goal to put the Lions up 6-0 on their opening drive.

The Larks tried to come up with an early answer, but their first two drives ended deep in Lions’ territory.

GM STATS

Rushing: Landon Jacobson, 29-for-109, 3 TD; Michael Stejskal, 14-for-73; Christopher Bain, 3-for-11; Blake Olson, 2-for-(-7); passing: Stejksal, 3-for-7, 28; Olson, 1-for-3, 9, INT; receiving: Olson, 2-for-24; Stejskal, 1-for-9; Jacobson, 1-for-4