ROCHESTER — The Grand Meadow football team is no stranger to section title games.

So it was no surprise when the Superlarks put up a mammoth effort to beat Spring Grove 35-7 in the Section 1 nine man title game in RCTC stadium Saturday.

GM had beaten Spring Grove 21-20 in the last game of the regular season, but things were much different this time around. The Superlarks (11-0 overall), who allowed six costly big plays in the first meeting with the Lions (9-2 overall), limited SG to just just one play of more than thirty yards in Saturday’s win. The Lions had just 130 yards passing Saturday.

“We trust the other guys that they’re going to be in their zone,” GM junior cornerback Brenn Olson said. “Then we have to keep them in front of us and make tackles. You’ve just got to trust it. It’s hard because you feel like they’re going to score if you let them go, but you’ve got to have faith in the other D-backs.”

The Superlarks led for most of the night, but the Lions made a move to seize momentum when Alex Engelhardt hauled in a 38-yard TD pass with 30 seconds left in the first half to make it a 21-7 game. SG had the ball at GM’s 37-yard line with a fourth and six trailing 21-7 halfway through the third quarter when it threw an incomplete pass. The Larks took over and responded with a physical 13 play, 63 yard drive that saw Michael Stejskal cap it with a walk-in TD run on a play-fake from three yards out to make it 28-7 with 11:56 left in the game.

“I think we have a target on our back and everybody wants to beat us since we’ve won thirty three in a row,” Stejskal said. “I think we’ve got to go in to every game like we’re the better team. Not being cocky, but confident. Every game we play I think we can win the game.”

After Stejskal’s score, Christopher Bain picked off a pass to seal the win. It was one of many big plays that Bain, a junior made in the win as he also ran for 127 yards and a TD and he had 66 receiving yards. Bain’s performance was even more impressive knowing that he had an ankle injury that nearly kept him out of the game.

“I didn’t even know on Wednesday or Thursday if [Bain] would play this week and played like that,” GM head coach Gary Sloan said. “He’s got a pretty severe ankle injury and our trainer Jim Williams did an awesome job of getting everyone ready. Our kids showed so much heart to tonight.”

Bain had just three days to rest his ankle after Tuesday’s playoff win over Houston. During Saturday’s win he was one of the many Larks battling cramps in the fourth quarter. However, Bain certainly wasn’t about to make any excuses or complain about the short break between two playoff contests.

“We’ve got to face adversity. We can’t choose how much time we have between games,” Bain said. “We just had to practice and execute.”

GM’s defense dominated for most of the night as they racked up six sacks on the pass-heavy Lions. Trevor Sloan and Connor King each had two quarterback takedowns for the Larks.

“I think our coaches realized what they did the first time,” Stejskal said. “We game planned against it and we brought defensive pressure. I gave up that one big play, but other than that they didn’t really do much on offense. In the first game they made big plays because he had time to throw, but tonight our defensive line got pressure on him.”

GM is now headed to its fourth straight state tournament and it has won the last two state titles. The Larks have won 33 games in a row and their senior class has a record of 50-3. They will open the Class nine man state quarterfinals when they play Cleveland in New Prague 1 p.m. Saturday.

GM wasn’t exactly celebrating after their win on Saturday, but Sloan said he hopes his team realizes that making it to four straight state tournaments is a big deal.

“This is not an easy accomplishment. We’re not going to talk about Cleveland at all for the next to days and we’re going to enjoy this,” Sloan said. “These kids are so focused. People talked about us not celebrating much after the game, but they’re just so focused. They’ve got their eye on the prize.”

The Larks are staying focused and they’re also staying humble. Olson hauled in a a big 37-yard TD pass to put GM up 13-0 in the first quarter, but he wasn’t about to brag about his accomplishment.

“It doesn’t matter who makes it, as long as we make a play. As long as we get the score, that’s all that’s important,” Olson said.

SCORING SUMMARY

SG 0 7 0 0 — 7

GM 13 7 0 14 — 35

First quarter

(GM) Christophor Bain 3 run (kick failed) (10 plays, 65 yards) 7:58

(GM) Brenn Olson 37 pass from Michael Stejskal (Wes Ojulu kick) 3:42

Second quarter

(GM) Stejskal 2 run (Connor King from Stejskal) (10 plays, 64 yards) 9:55

(SG) Alex Engelhardt 38 pass from Chase Grinde (Folz kick) :30

Third quarter

No scoring

Fourth quarter

(GM) Stejskal 3 run (kick failed) (13 plays, 63 yards) 11:56

(GM) Zach Myhre 1 run (Ojulu from Stejskal) (5 plays, 18 yards) 7:46

GM STATS

Rushing: Christophor Bain, 21-for-127, TD; Michael Stejskal, 17-for-85, 2 TD; Zach Myhre, 19-for-67, TD; Brenn Olson, 1-for-0

Passing: Stejskal, 5-for-11, 104, TD

Receiving: Bain, 3-for-66, TD; Brenn Olson, 1-for-36, TD; Myhre, 1-for-2

Interceptions: Bain (1)

Sacks: Trevor Sloan (2); Connor King (2); Michael Oehlke (1); Trent Tangen (1)

Penalties: 4-for-40

SG STATS

Rushing: 53

Passing: 103

Penalties: 4-for-30