T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING - North Tama’s Aiden Zook, left, takes the pitch from Michael Bell (42) on a hook-and-lateral play during Friday’s Class A District 3 football game in Grundy Center. The fifth-ranked host Spartans prevailed 28-0.

GRUNDY CENTER — The 28-0 scoreline might not show it — but Friday night’s battle for the Class A District 3 title between No. 5 Grundy Center and North Tama was proof for the Redhawks of their improvement in the 2021 season. The Spartans took home the win and the district title, moving to 7-1 on the season. North Tama dropped to 6-2.

Coach Taylor Wurth said it felt like a missed opportunity for the team, but added that he was happy with the way they played and felt the game was there to be won.

“We seemed to move the ball well, we played well on defense,” Wurth said. “I’m really pleased with how we played, we just made costly mistakes at the wrong time and you can’t do that against a good football team.”

The first quarter was back-and-forth, but the Spartans struck midway through the period with a pass from Logan Knaack to Colin Gordon on fourth-and-goal from the Redhawk three. It was a blow for North Tama to go down, but the Redhawks moved the ball down inside the Grundy Center 35 thanks to a long run from Gabe Kopriva. However, a trick play involving a wide receiver pass from Devin McKinley to Michael Bell was just overthrown, giving the ball back to the Spartans.

McKinley intercepted Knaack and ran it back to the Grundy Center 32, but the Redhawks again went out on fourth down.

North Tama’s defense held up, largely stuffing the inside run game of Knaack and Dayne Zinkula. The offense was also picking up chunk plays through the air or via Kopriva’s running ability. The Redhawks cracked the red zone midway through the second quarter, but the Spartans once again thwarted North Tama on fourth down.

Perhaps the best opportunity of the night for the Redhawks came in the final minute of the first half.

A 40-yard completion from Kopriva to wideout Michael Schrier put North Tama at the five-yard line of the Spartans. But a loss on first down and a short run on second down set up a frantic third-and-goal from the four-yard line. Kopriva was sacked and fumbled, bringing an end to the half.

Four times, the Redhawks were inside the 40-yard line of Grundy Center. They came away with no points.

Wurth said the team’s inability to find the end zone in the first half was especially difficult to take given how well the Redhawks moved the ball.

“The halftime just stunk, because the film shows we had plays there but we just missed out,” Wurth said. “We were one block away from scoring on one of those plays.”

Grundy Center scored on its first drive of the second half, taking a 14-0 lead and putting the impetus on North Tama to make something happen. But a screen pass by Kopriva was picked off by Trent Cakerice. Knaack scored from eight yards out, and the deficit was 21-0.

The Redhawks were moving the ball on their next drive before a Kopriva pass went through the hands of his intended target and into the arms of Zinkula. The next play, Knaack ran it in from 27 yards out. In 11 minutes, the Spartans had blown open the game — and blown away the Redhawks.

Not much went on in the fourth quarter, but the Redhawks had another drive into Grundy Center territory come up empty with a second attempt at the wide receiver pass getting picked off.

Still, the Redhawks moved the ball well and enter the postseason fresh off a strong regular-season showing.

Wurth said the Redhawks can beat anyone when they’re on.

“We can compete with anyone,” Wurth said. “We can’t beat teams when we shoot ourselves in the foot, when we make those costly mistakes.”

Postseason pairings will be announced Saturday.