MINNEAPOLIS — The last thing Grand Meadow senior Perry Stejskal wanted to do was to find himself in street clothes during the Superlarks’ 61-6 win over South Ridge in the state nine man football semifinals.

But that’s exactly where Stejskal found himself after he ran for two first quarter touchdowns. Stejskal, who has been injured every year of his football career, missed six games earlier this season with an injury to his MCL and he was re-injured in the second quarter.

He was scheduled to have an MRI Friday afternoon, but he was already feeling confident minutes after GM’s win.

“I’ll be playing next week,” Stejskal said. “It was tough to watch, but we were doing awesome and they didn’t need me any more. (GM quarterback) Trenton (Bleifus) is a stud and he’s been doing it all year. He can work the field, he can run and he can throw.”

GM head coach Gary Sloan has been adamant that his squad is not a one man team, but losing Stejskal again could hurt. Stejskal was out of the lineup when Spring Grove beat GM 22-20 in the regular season and he was in the lineup when the Larks knocked off the Lions 25-6 in the section title game.

“My biggest concern is my fullback,” Sloan said. “He missed most of the season and we just got him back. But the strength of our team is that we don’t have any superstars, we have a lot of balance. When he went down, a lot of other guys stepped up.”

GM sophomore Landon Jacobson, who had 108 yards of offense and two touchdowns in the win, said he’s confident Stejskal can make it back, but GM will find a way if it doesn’t have its senior fullback in the lineup Friday.

“We’ve won before without Perry. He’s huge to the team, but I think we can do it without him,” Jacobson said. “But he’s playing, he want’s to play and he’s going to give it everything he has.”

Bleifus said the ground game gave GM the boost it needed to set up its passing game in the first half.

“Perry set the tone for us and when he went down Cameron Gomer stepped up and played one heck of a game,” Bleifus said.