SPRING GROVE — The Superlarks shook off an early breakdown and rolled to a 25-6 win over No. 1 Spring Grove (10-1 overall) in the Section 1 nine man football title game in Spring Grove Friday.

It is the fifth trip to state in GM school history and the program’s third trip to state as a nine man team.

“It was big,” GM head coach Gary Sloan said. “We’ve got these ten seniors and it’s their third section championship game. Those guys weren’t gonna be denied.”

Senior Mike Ojulu helped GM (10-1 overall) put the game away when he hauled in a 62-yard TD pass from Trenton Bleifus to make it 18-6 with 11:44 left in the game.

“I wanted to run and keep the clock going, but all of our big plays were coming from the passing game,” Sloan said.

SG had jumped out to a 6-0 lead on the first play of the game when Josh Olerud got loose for a 69-yard TD run.

GM responded when Bleifus, who threw for 193 yards and ran for 65 yards, found senior Bryce Benson on a 32-yard TD strike. Bleifus found Benson again on a 6-yard TD toss in the second quarter to make it 12-6.

GM got a boost from senior running back Perry Stejskal, who ran for 47 yards and set plenty of blocks for the Larks, who ran for 171 yards after running for just 61 yards in a 22-20 loss to the Lions Oct. 12.

“Just having Perry up front blocking made a big difference,” Sloan said.

GM will play Mountain Lake Area (9-2 overall) in the nine man state quarterfinals Friday at 7 p.m. at Rochester Community and Technical College.

GM STATS

Passing: Trenton Bleifus, 8-for-11, 193, 3 TD, INT; Receiving: Mike Ojulu, 2-for-95, TD; Collin Jacobson, 1-for-41; Bryce Benson, 2-for-38, 2 TD; Landon Jacobson, 3-for-19; Rushing: Beifus, 19-for-65, TD; Landon Jacobson, 15-for-59; Perry Stejskal, 10-for-47

SCORING SUMMARY

GM 6 6 0 14 — 25

SG 6 0 0 0 — 6

First quarter

(SG) Olerud 69 run 11:42

(GM) Benson 32 pass from Bleifus (kick failed) 4:32

Second quarter

(GM) Benson 6 pass from Bleifus (kick failed) 8:43

Third quarter

No scoring

Fourth quarter

(GM) Ojulu 62 pass from Bleifus (run failed) 11:44

(GM) Bleifus 8 run (Wyatt Richardson kick) 6:20