Grinnell’s offense grinds down STC

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE - South Tama County quarterback Brayden Smith (10) finds a running lane against Matayas Durr (62) and Grinnell during the first quarter of Friday’s football game at Leonard Cole Field. Grinnell ran away with a 48-13 victory.

The hard part wasn’t knowing what the Grinnell offense was going to try to do. The hard part was stopping it.

The South Tama County football team couldn’t meet the challenge as the “host” Tigers retained the Steve Kriegel Memorial Trophy for the third year in a row with a 48-13 triumph on Friday night at Leonard Cole Field.

The game was scheduled to be in Grinnell, but damage from the derecho left the Tigers without a playable venue. Marshalltown High School offered its site up to the annual rivalry game, which Grinnell (1-1) controlled from the opening kickoff.

The Tigers tallied 557 yards from scrimmage, recovered an onside kick to open the second half and captured the game’s only takeaway en route to the decisive triumph.

“We knew what they were going to do, but they were really good at it,” South Tama head coach Nate Doran said as his Trojans slipped back to 1-1.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

The Trojans’ 49-point win over Saydel in the opening game of the season was quickly forgotten as Grinnell scored on its first four possessions with both big plays and lengthy drives. The Tigers tallied the first touchdown three plays into the game on a 72-yard pass play from Dallas Sauser to Kyle Dillon.

South Tama’s ensuing possession ended with a punt, but Uriel Martinez’s 55-yard boot pushed Grinnell back to its own 5-yard-line.

Two plays later, the Tigers were celebrating again. Wyatt Hunter kicked off his big night out of the backfield with an 89-yard touchdown run right up the middle, giving Grinnell a 14-0 lead just 4 minutes, 4 seconds into the game.

STC responded with a 13-play, 78-yard drive out of its triple-I formation, finding success between the tackles before Payton Vest finished it off with a 10-yard touchdown run. Grinnell answered in kind, chewing up 5:32 of clock on a 17-play, 72-yard drive that Sauser capped with an 11-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Owen Coffman in the back of the end zone.

South Tama didn’t score again until the midway point of the fourth quarter, when quarterback Brayden Smith scampered 70-yards for the final tally of the game.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

“We had way too many mistakes to beat a good football team tonight,” said Doran, citing the Trojans’ four holding penalties. “We gave them some big opportunities and gave away a 14-0 lead right away. That’s a big hole, but last year this team would have quit. They still fought, but from coaches to players we made some mistakes tonight.”

Vest finished with 22 carries for 176 yards and a touchdown, helping to carry the Trojans’ offense that was for the most part effective. STC finished with just 9 yards passing, however, as they tried to whittle the clock down with a ball-control rushing attack.

South Tama finished with 288 yards of total offense to Grinnell’s whopping accumulation, highlighted by Hunter’s 20 carries for 221 yards and three touchdowns. Saucer went 13-for-19 passing for 193 yards and four TDs, and Coffman made three catches for 80 yards and two scores.

South Tama kicks off Class 2A District 6 play on the road next Friday night, traveling to face Vinton-Shellsburg before back-to-back home games against Solon and Center Point-Urbana.

Grinnell 48, South Tama 13

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

At Marshalltown

STC 6 0 0 7 — 13

GRINNELL 14 20 7 7 — 48

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

GRN — Kyle Dillon 72 pass from Dallas Sauser (Dillon kick), 10:51.

GRN — Wyatt Hunter 89 run (Dillon kick), 7:56.

STC — Payton Vest 10 run (Uriel Martinez), 2:57.

Second Quarter

GRN — Owen Coffman 11 pass from Sauser (run failed), 9:19.

GRN — Coffman 20 pass from Sauser (Dillon kick), 4:27.

GRN — Hunter 9 run (Dillon kick), :43.

Third Quarter

GRN — Hunter 54 run (Calvin Jaworski kick), 5:51.

Fourth Quarter

GRN — Brady Steward 17 pass from Sauser (Dillon kick), 9:37.

STC — Brayden Smith 70 run (Martinez kick), 8:40.

TEAM STATS

STC GRN

First Downs 9 24

Rushes-yards 35-279 46-315

Passing yards 9 242

Comp-Att-Int 2-10-1 14-20-0

Total offense 45-288 60-557

Fumbles-lost 1-0 0-0

Penalties-yards 5-56 7-47

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — STC: Vest 22-176, B. Smith 6-85, Rudy Papakee 6-13, Jacob Collison 1-5; GRN: Hunter 20-221, Will Doty 8-42, Kamrin Steveson 10-25, Alex Smith 3-16, Rhett Nagel 2-11, Jake Green 1-5, Sauser 1-(minus-11).

PASSING — STC: B. Smith 2-10-9-1; GRN: Sauser 13-19-193-0, A. Smith 1-1-49-0.

RECEIVING — STC: Vest 1-5, Kyler Smith 1-4; GRN: Coffman 3-80, Dillon 2-76, AJ Wilkins 5-46, Steward 1-17, Hunter 1-4, Green 1-2.

: T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE – South Tama County quarterback Brayden Smith (10) finds a running lane against Matayas Durr (62) and Grinnell during the first quarter of Friday’s football game at Leonard Cole Field. Grinnell ran away with a 48-13 victory.