The Eagle Grove Eagles football team returns to action on Friday night as they make the trip to Grundy County to take on the Grundy Center Spartans in Class 1A, District 3 action at Spartan Stadium in Grundy Center. Eagle Grove enters at 2-5 and 1-3 in district play, while Grundy Center enters at 7-0, 4-0 in district play and riding a 46-game winning streak. Friday’s meeting is the first-ever meeting between the 2 programs.
The Spartans are currently 7-0 with non-district wins over Aplington-Parkersburg, Columbus Catholic and Dike-New Hartford, with district wins over Garner-Hayfield-Ventura, Clarion-Goldfield-Dows, South Hardin and Central Springs. Leading the Grundy Center offense is one of the top quarterbacks in all of Iowa in senior Judd Jirovsky, as the Stanford-golf commit has thrown for 941 yards and 13 touchdowns, while rushing for 418 yards and 7 touchdowns. Jirvosky’s favorite target in the passing game is senior receiver Eli Wegmann, who’s caught 19 passes for 299 yards and 6 touchdowns, as fellow senior Devin Hinders has 13 catches for 288 yards and 3 touchdowns. Jirvosky also has an effective rushing attack behind him, led by senior Pete Lebo, who’s rushed for 362 yards and 8 touchdowns, as sophomore Cooper Keller and junior Hayden Geerdes have both rushed for over 100 yards and combined for 10 touchdowns. The Spartans do have a younger offensive line, but a unit still made up of upperclassmen, led by senior Ryder Slifer.
On the defensive side, the Spartans linebacking core has been stout to start the year, as sophomore linebacker Cooper Keller leads Grundy Center with 33.5 tackles and a TFL, while Hayden Geerdes has 31 tackles, 1.5 TFL and a pick six. Pete Lebo and Aiden Betts have added greater depth to the linebacking room as well. Senior Ryder Slifer leads the Spartans defensive line with 21 tackles, 8.5 TFL, 3.5 sacks and 2 interceptions, as Carter Ruth has added 8.5 tackles, while JD Eckhart has 13.5 tackles, as the Spartans can send a numerous rotation of lineman out on the varsity field. The Spartans secondary has made numerous plays early in the season, as Eli Wegmann has 3 interception, while junior Ethan Meester has 3 forced fumbles on the year. Judd Jirvosky has 2 interceptions on the season, both coming in the Spartans win over Clarion-Goldfield-Dows.
Eagle Grove’s best avenue to competition will be a shortening the game by putting together long, clock-consuming drives with their flexbone attack, while their defenses attention to detail will need to be at a pristine level.
Kickoff is slated for 7 PM on Friday Night from Spartan Stadium.