EIGHT-PLAYER
Bishop Garrigan, Algona 39, Bedford 30
The Bishop Garrigan Golden Bears are your Eight-Player State Champions for the 2023 season. Bishop Garrigan was able to keep their offense pushing downfield, which helped to prevent Bedford from ever coming back in the game. Looking into the stats of the competition, Bishop Garrigan was led in the passing game by Tate Foertsch who went 7-10 for two touchdowns and 109 passing yards, including one pass that went for a 40-yard touchdown pass to Justin Bauer. Foertsch also rushed for 82 yards and rushed in a touchdown on a 24-yard touchdown run. Leading rusher for the Golden Bears was Caden Roethler who rushed for 10 yards and a touchdown. Ethan Marso also got his name on the stat sheet by rushing for 28 yards and earning a rushing touchdown. Drew Lappe also had a receiving touchdown in the game and had 28 receiving yards for Bishop Garrigan. Leading tackler in the game was Andrew Lichter with eight tackles followed by Justin Bauer with seven. On the opposite side for Bedford, Conner Nally led in the passing game, going 9-18 for 92 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed for 52 yards and earned two rushing touchdowns. Leading rusher for Bedford was Silas Walston who rushed for 105 yards and earned a touchdown in the game. On the receiving side, Cal Peterman led in receiving yards with 45 while Garrison Motsinger had 16 receiving yards for a touchdown. Defensively, the Bulldogs were led by Ashton Nally and Dalton Swartz with 8.5 tackles each. Congratulations to Bishop Garrigan for earning the State Championship title for Eight-Player.
CLASS A
West Hancock 30, Woodbury Central 28
The West Hancock Eagles are now your Class A State Champions for the 2023 season. The Eagles trailed at halftime, and with a 12-point fourth quarter and a second-half defensive effort, the Eagles were able to come back home with a State Championship in their hands. Looking into the stats of the game, West Hancock was led by Mitchell Smith who went 8-11 in the game with 80 yards passing and one touchdown that went to Brady Bixel who had just five receiving yards. Kellen Smith led in the receiving game with four receptions and 35 yards receiving. Both Mitchell and Kellen Smith led the team in rushing as Mitchell rushed for 103 yards and a touchdown while Kellen rushed for 74 yards and added a rushing touchdown on the board. Kale Zuehl also led the team in rushing touchdowns with two while rushing for 63 yards. Zack Beukema led the team in tackles with 7.5 while David Smith and Brady Bixel each had an interception. For Woodbury Central, they were led by Drew Kluender who passed for 274 yards and went 26-42 for a touchdown. The leading receiver in the game was Eric McGill who had 106 receiving yards and a touchdown. The leading rusher was Zack Butler who earned three touchdowns while rushing for 105 yards in the game. Leading in the defensive game was both Eric McGill and Colby Gilbert who each had eight tackles. Congratulations to West Hancock for earning the State Championship title for Class A.
CLASS 1A
Grundy Center 42, MFL MarMac 0
The Grundy Center Spartans are your Class 1A State Champions for the 2023 season. The Spartans entered into halftime 27-0 and just continued to add onto the board for the first state championship shutout game so far in 2023. Breaking down the stats for Grundy Center, Colin Gordon led in the game with 242 yards passing and went 17-25 for two throwing touchdowns. His leading receivers were Dylan and Justin Knaack who each had 39 receiving yards while Justin earned a receiving touchdown. Tate Jirovsky had 53 receiving yards and also had a touchdown. The leading rushing in the game was Justin Knaack with 64 rushing yards for a touchdown. Brody Zinkula also earned a rushing touchdown and rushed for a total of 43 yards. Pete Lebo earned 7.5 tackles while Ryker Thoren had seven tackles in the game. The only sack of the game was from Tiernan Vokes who rushed it back for six yards. MFL MarMac had two quarterbacks who combined for just 18 passing yards. Bryce Radloff led the team in rushing yards with 40 and averaged eight yards per carry. Brandon Christofferson had an interception for MFL MarMac to try to put some momentum back on the Bulldogs’ side, but at that point in the game, it was already too late. Congratulations to Grundy Center for earning the State Championship title for Class 1A.
CLASS 4A
Lewis Central 40, Western Dubuque 21
The Lewis Central Titans led the entire competition as they are your Class 4A State Champions for the 2023 season. Lewis Central scored at least a touchdown in every quarter while allowing the Bobcats to earn a touchdown in the second, third, and fourth quarters. Leading passer in the game was Brady Hetzel who passed for 325 yards and went 19-24 for four touchdowns. The leading receiver was Curtis Witte who caught for 157 yards and three touchdowns. Lual Maker had 133 yards receiving and also had a touchdown. The leading rusher was Kamdyn Cross who rushed for 137 yards and averaged 5.7 yards per carry. Cameron Moore led the team in tackles with seven while Owen Thomas and Caleb Moore each had an interception. For Western Dubuque, the Bobcats were led by Tanner Anderson with 97 passing yards as he went 8-20 and threw two interceptions. Brandon Becker was his primary target with 48 receiving yards. The majority of the yards came in the running game from Grant Glausser who rushed for 268 yards and three touchdowns while having a break-away 62-yard rushing touchdown. Derek Hoerner led the team in tackles with 7.5. David Theisen had a tackle for loss and a sack in the game while Ben Wernimont had an interception. Congratulations to Lewis Central on earning the State Championship title for Class 4A.
