WAPELLO — A touchdown pass from Gabe Kopriva to Adam Greiner with 4:26 left in the third quarter was just enough for North Tama football to win its Class A first-round playoff matchup with Wapello on Friday night. The 23-22 win moves the Redhawks on to the round of 16.

The Redhawks (7-2) were on the road and hoping to continue what has been an impressive season. On the road against a 6-3 Wapello team, the Redhawks started slow and trailed 14-0 after the first 10 minutes of action thanks to two Wapello scores from Maddox Griffin. A 47-yard pass from Kopriva to Devin McKinley cut the lead to 14-7 before the end of the first.

Kopriva completed 26 of his 32 passing attempts for 333 yards and two scores.

Before the half, the teams traded touchdowns. Aiden Zook ran it in from five yards out for North Tama and a two-point conversion briefly put the Redhawks up 15-14. Griffin caught a third touchdown pass from Wapello quarterback Tade Parsons to give the home team a 22-15 lead heading into halftime. Parsons threw for 202 yards, three scores and two interceptions — with Griffin catching 10 passes for 93 yards. Jake Gustison caught seven passes for 85 yards and ran for 66 yards on 18 carries.

North Tama gained 394 total yards on offense. Topping the receiving charts for the Redhawks was McKinley with 97 yards on nine receptions, followed by Michael Schrier with two for 86 yards and Michael Bell on five receptions for 74 yards.

The only points of the second half were from Kopriva’s short pass to Greiner and the two-point conversion run by Kopriva gave the Redhawks their 23-22 lead, and two interceptions by the North Tama defense — both made by Kopriva — helped seal the win.

Kopriva also ran for 36 yards on nine carries. Zook led the way on the round with 48 yards on 11 attempts.

With this win, the Redhawks are on to a round of 16 matchup at ninth-ranked Lynnville-Sully, set to kick off Friday at 7 p.m. in Sully.