Gladbrook-Reinbeck senior Zach Pierce (74) holds the Class A state runner-up trophy and fellow senior Logan Flamme, on left, holding the team’s banner back on the Gladbrook-Reinbeck sideline to acknowledge the G-R fans after Thursday’s championship game at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls. No. 3 Gladbrook-Reinbeck was defeated 28-24 by the top ranked team logan-Magnolia.

CEDAR FALLS – Matt Straight gave it a second thought and even used two timeouts to mull it over.

Facing fourth-and-2 from the Rebels’ 9 with just over a minute to play, the Panther coach trusted his team’s season and the fate of a championship in the hands of the compact Brady Charbonneau.

The 5-foot-5, 162-pound senior juked a defender and darted outside before cutting back for the go-ahead score as top-ranked Logan-Magnolia rallied for a 28-24 victory over Gladbrook-Reinbeck in the Class A title game of the Iowa High School Football Playoffs Thursday at the UNI-Dome.

Charbonneau rushed for a career-best 234 yards and two touchdowns as the Panthers (14-0) captured their second state title in school history and the first in 24 years, while snapping the Rebels’ 12-game winning streak.

“We thought about going for a field goal there at the end,” said Straight, who played on the Panthers’ 1990 title team. “We have a good kicker. He’s pretty consistent, but we had (2 yards) to go and Charbonneau had the hot hand all game and we thought, ‘let’s put it in his hands and see what he can do.'”

Charbonneau’s burst capped a 12-play, 73-yard drive that chewed over five minutes off the clock and left the third-ranked Rebels (12-2) with just 59 seconds and one timeout to respond. Jake Schuman completed one first down pass to the 39 but the ball was knocked loose on the next play and Austin Haner pounced on it to seal the win for Logan-Magnolia.

The Rebels trailed most of the first three quarters but pulled ahead eight seconds into the fourth when defensive lineman Dalton Schwartz rumbled 25 yards on an interception return to put G-R ahead 24-21. Cameron Murphy created the turnover with a jarring hit on Colton Fisher before the 245-pound Schwartz corralled the ball and took off the other way.

The Panthers went three-and-out on the ensuing drive as G-R took over near midfield and crossed into Logan-Magnolia territory before a mishandled snap sent them back 11 yards and forced them to punt. After picking up just two first downs on their previous four drives, the Panthers started their game-winning march with 6:06 on the clock and 73 yards in front of them. Lo-Ma used four different backs on the drive but fed the ball to Charbonneau for seven of his 18 carries to reclaim the lead.

The diminutive back proved too elusive for the Rebels’ increasingly aggressive defense that had stymied the Panthers on the last four drives.

“Early in that third quarter we had some big plays and put them in a second-and-12 situation and that last drive we couldn’t ever quite get there,” G-R coach John Olson said. “More power to them, they made a play when it mattered towards the end and even on that play, we brought more players and they had to call a couple of timeouts. The coaching staff did an awesome job on their part. Our coaches put our kids in the right situations, the kids played as hard as they possibly could and that team was better today.”

Eric Stoakes led the Rebels with 185 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries to extend his single-season school record to 2,481 yards, the 23rd-best total all-time in the state.

Stoakes scampered 75 yards up the middle for a touchdown just 17 seconds after Charbonneau broke loose for 83 yards in an electrifying start to the second half.

Neither offense could move within their opponents’ 35 the rest of the way until the Panthers reignited their ground game on their final trek.

“They were really quick and they got really low and it was just really hard to tackle them,” Dinsdale said. “They’re slippery guys and they’re quick.”

The Panthers struck first with Nic Hiller’s one-yard keeper before G-R countered with a 14-play, 84-yard drive that stalled inside the 10 as Bennett Peterson’s 21-yard field goal pulled the Rebels within four 2 minutes into the second. Jake Schuman hit Colton Dinsdale in stride for 37 yards early in the drive and the duo set up the next score with a 34-yard connection on third-and-21. Dinsdale leaped over Fisher for a jump ball and bobbled the pigskin on his way down before securing it while falling to the turf to move G-R to the 12. Three plays later, Stoakes spun his way in from 3 yards out to earn a 10-7 edge for the Rebels with 3:40 left in the half.

Logan-Magnolia quickly retaliated as Fisher burned the Rebel secondary with a 36-yard strike to Gabe Holden, the Panthers’ lone completed pass of the afternoon. Fisher used a hard count to draw G-R offside and keep the drive alive on fourth-and-two from the 44 before their lone completed pass put Logan-Magnolia ahead 14-10 with 46 seconds remaining in the half. Fisher finished 1-of-5 with two interceptions as Austin Lott picked off a tipped pass midway through the third.

Starting in place of the injured Camden Kickbush, Schuman finished 7-of-13 passing for 121 yards as the Rebels attempted the most passes since their season-opening loss to Union Community. Olson said it was the ratio he wanted in Kickbush’s absence, as the senior usually accounted for 10-15 carries.

“We didn’t want to give Stoakes the ball 30-40 times in a game because then everyone can isolate on him,” Olson said. “You have Schuman in the game, who’s a heck of a good athlete, but obviously you can tell how good he is at throwing the ball too so the ratio flips there a little bit. When that happens you have to change your philosophy on offense just a little bit.”

The Rebels reached the finals for just the second time in school history and the first time since the 2004 squad finished runner-up. Finishing four points and one stop shy of its final goal, G-R still returned to their section of the fans with their trophy and their heads held high.

“We just don’t talk about winning and losing, we talk about what we’ve got to do to put ourselves in the position to have that opportunity,” Olson said. “If we win tonight by four points and stop them there, yeah we’re going to be more excited about the outcome but it doesn’t change who we are, what we’ve done and how hard we worked throughout the season.”

Notebook

Stoakes rushed for 36 touchdowns on the year – tying him for 36th all-time in Iowa history. The Panthers finished 5-4 last season and missed the playoffs after eight straight trips. Straight was also a member of the 1989 Class 1A runner-up squad. … Bryce Ehlers led the G-R defense with 10 tackles, while Tyler Eiffler had five and a half and Schwartz added five. … The Rebels graduate 10 senior starters from this year’s close-knit group. … “We’re just a brotherhood, we do it for the person next to us,” Schwartz said. “It’s great to be on this team with these teammates.”