ROCHESTER — The Grand Meadow football team made some big defensive changes and it paid off as they limited Spring Grove’s arial attack in a 47-21 win in the Section 1 nine man football title game in RCTC Stadium Friday.

The win put the Superlarks (11-0 overall) in their fifth straight state tournament and they have now won 47 consecutive games as they continue pursue their fourth straight state title.

“It’s a crazy feeling,” GM senior Connor King said. “Not a lot of people get to experience this, but we worked our butts off to get here. I think we earned it and we deserve it.”

After getting burned by the big plays in a regular season win over the Lions, the Larks made a big change with their defensive approach Friday. GM moved Christophor Bain to a safety position over the top of SG wideout Chase Grinde and Wes Ojulu took on Grinde up front. As a result, the Lions had just two passing plays of 15 yards or more.

“We knew they were going to score some points on us, we just didn’t want to give up nearly as many big plays as we did last game,” GM head coach Gary Sloan said. “We also talked about answering their scores and not letting them score twice in a row.”

GM opened the game with a 20-0 lead in the first quarter as Bain, who ran for 197 yards and three scores, had a 65-yard TD run on the first play from scrimmage and Zach Myhre, who had 166 yards of offense and two TDs, had a 33-yard TD run.

“Those guys are incredible and it’s so fun to block for them,” King said. “They can do it all and there’s not a weakness in their game.”

The Lions (10-2 overall) pulled within 26-14 when Alton Eric hauled in a five-yard TD pass from Alex Folz with 1:32 left in the half. GM responded when it went 53 yards in just over a minute as Wes Ojulu hauled in a 17-yard TD pass from Brenn Olson to make it 33-14 with 21 seconds left in the half. Ojulu later hauled in a 10-yard TD pass from Olson on fourth down to put the Larks up 41-21 with 1:08 left in the third quarter.

“We’re always waiting for that. When we’ve got Bain and Myhre back there, teams are lining up and we’re waiting for that big play,” Ojulu said. “Brenn and I have been playing together for quite a long time. He’s always been my quarterback and I’d like to say we have chemistry.”

The Larks dominated the fourth quarter with their defense as King finished the game with two sacks and Kyle Oehlke had three sacks and a fumble forced. Oehlke said GM had to keep up the intensity throughout the night.

“You just try to be aggressive and give one hundred percent on every play. You try to get to the quarterback and get pressure on him so he can’t throw long,” Oehlke said. “[In the fourth quarter] gave a little bit extra, we dug down deep and we gave 110 percent effort.”

The Superlarks will open the Class A state nine man football tournament against Edgerton-Ellsworth in RCTC Stadium 7 p.m. Friday.

SCORING SUMMARY

SG   0  14  7  0  —  21

GM 20  13  7  6  —  47

First quarter

(GM) Christophor Bain 65 run (1 play, 65 yards) (Wes Ojulu kick) 11:50

(GM) Zach Myhre 33 run (kick failed) (5 plays, 50 yards) 7:34

(GM) Bain 3 run (Ojulu kick) (6 plays, 68 yards) 2:54

Second quarter

(SG) Chase Grinde 36 pass from Alex Folz (Folz kick) (6 plays, 85 yards) 8:07

(GM) Bain 57 run (kick failed) (2 plays, 60 yards) 7:14

(SG) Noah Elton 5 pass from Folz (Folz kick) (10 plays, 74 yards) 1:32

(GM) Ojulu 17 pass from Brenn Olson (Ojulu kick) (4 plays, 53 yards) :21

Third quarter

(SG) Folz 8 run (Folz kick) (13 plays, 63 yards) 6:17

(GM) Ojulu 10 pass from Olson (Bain run) (12 plays, 73 yards) 1:08

Fourth quarter

(GM) Myhre 38 pass from Olson (1 play, 38 yards) (kick failed) 4:38

GM STATS

Rushing: Christophor Bain, 19-for-197, 3 TDs; Zach Myhre, 14-for-128, TD; Brenn Olson, 6-for-7; Wes Ojulu, 1-for-1

Passing: Olson, 4-for-6, 114, 3 TDs

Receiving: Ojulu, 3-for-76, 2 TDs; Myhre, 1-for-38, TD

Sacks: Kyle Ohelke (3); Connor King (2); Blake Benson (1)

Penalties: 4-for-35

SG STATS

Rushing: 171

Passing: 148

Penalties: 4-for-35