Superlarks are set for showdown with Spring Grove
Published 9:32 pm Wednesday, November 2, 2016
- Christophor Bain carries the ball for the Superlarks in practice in GM Wednesday. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
GRAND MEADOW — The top-seeded Grand Meadow football team will have its season and its 44-game winning streak on the line when it takes on No. 2 Spring Grove in the Section 1 nine man football title game in RCTC stadium 5 p.m. Friday.
If GM’s regular season 47-34 win over the Lions (9-1 overall) was any indicator, it should be another battle between two of the top teams in nine man football. GM senior Brenn Olson said that the Superlarks (10-0 overall) look at every opponent seriously and they always take it one game at a time, but now the time has come to focus on the Lions.
“I think we always look forward to it when we play Spring Grove because they’re always going to be a tough team to play and we have a lot of respect for those guys,” Olson said. “I think it’s going to go kind of like the first game did. We’ve got to try make them one dimensional by stopping the run and if we can keep them in the passing game, it’ll be easier on us.”
The Superlarks allowed Spring Grove standout wide receiver Chase Grinde to make some big plays in the regular season meeting and GM head coach Gary Sloan is hoping that doesn’t happen again. GM is focusing on its defense as it prepares for the big showdown.
Grand Meadow’s Wes Ojulu hauls in a pass in practice in GM Wednesday. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
“We were happy in the first game with our offense, but we weren’t that happy with our defense,” Sloan said. “The whole thing against Spring Grove is you have to defend the big play. That’s such a big part of their offense.”
Since the Lions and Larks played in a lot of blowouts where their starters played low minutes in the regular season, both teams struggled with conditioning in the regular season matchup. But this time around, the adrenaline of playing for a trip to state should be enough to keep both squads going.
Sloan also isn’t worried about his team coming into too confident after the Larks have played in the last four state tournaments.
“I don’t think we’re overconfident at all,” Sloan said. “We have too much respect for Spring Grove to ever be overconfident. We know we won the first game, but that was a very competitive game that could’ve gone either way.”
