Gladbrook-Reinbeck assistant football coach Sean Babinat poses for a photograph during a recent practice in Reinbeck. Babinat was a member of the only other Rebel team to make it to the championship game in 2004, when G-R fell 10-3 to Council Bluffs St. Albert in the Class 1A title game. Photo by Tyler Strand

REINBECK – Just 2 yards short.

That was how close the 2004 Gladbrook-Reinbeck football team came to forcing an overtime or possibly defeating top-ranked Council Bluffs St. Albert a decade ago.

It was third-and-goal when Rebel quarterback Caleb Hamer fired a pass that was caught by diving tight end Kyle Gorres at the 2-yard line. With no timeouts left, the Rebels were unable to get another play off as the final seconds of the game ticked off the clock, allowing the Falcons to escape with a hard-to-swallow 10-3 victory. It was a tough ending to an otherwise incredible season.

Flash forward 10 years and many of the players who decorated the roster of that esteemed squad have actively followed this season’s Rebel football team’s journey to the Class A finals. A journey that will culminate with a championship game against top-ranked Logan-Magnolia this afternoon at the UNI-Dome.

Hamer is one of the players who has earnestly followed G-R’s impressive run to the state finals.

Caleb Hamer, the quarterback of Gladbrook-Reinbeck’s 2004 state runner-up football team, kneels in prayer prior to the Rebels’ Class 1A championship game against Council Bluffs St. Albert in this Nov. 19, 2004, file photo. Hamer and other members of the 2004 team were honored at halftime of a G-R football game earlier this season, and many of them will be watching in person, on television or online when their alma mater challenges top-ranked Logan-Magnolia in today’s Class 1A title game in Cedar Falls. File photo

“I’ve only been to two games, but I’m always following what they’re doing and I usually talk to one or more of the coaches on a weekly basis,” the former quarterback said.

Aside from attending the Grundy Center game when the venerated 2004 team was recognized and honored, Hamer also watched the Rebels best Denver 21-8 in the Class A semifinals, and he’s followed some other games on the radio. While watching G-R perform, Hamer has detected some similarities between the 2004 Rebels and the 2014 version.

“The first similarity I noticed is this 2014 edition is really good up front,” he said. “Their front five on offense is really good, they’re big and physical, especially for a Class A football team. Similarly, in 2004 we had pretty good size up front and that paved the way for a productive offense then like it has this year.”

For Sean Babinat, an offensive lineman on G-R’s 2004 team and an assistant coach on this year’s squad, returning to the UNI-Dome has awakened some long dormant memories.

“It’s hard to walk in there and not remember,” he said, “especially once you see Rebel uniforms and Rebel fans and all that kind of stuff. It’s kind of a new situation now, just being on the other side and being a coach.”

Babinat, however, said his return to the Dome didn’t stir up as many strong emotions as he assumed.

“As much as you would have thought you’d have gotten weird feelings like tingles down your spine or whatever, a lot of it is that it’s just a football game at another location,” he said. “We got here and we might have been farther away when we were up in the booth and there might have been a lot more people there, but in the end it really felt like another football game. So it was not quite as intimidating as I thought it would be.”

Though they may not have grasped the gravity of all they were accomplishing during what Hamer called their whirlwind of a playoff, he said his team’s postseason run is something they wouldn’t exchange for anything.

“It was a tremendous experience as a high school athlete,” he said.

Some Rebels, specifically quarterback Cam Kickbush, who broke his collar bone in the first half of G-R’s game against Denver, have received some wisdom-filled advice from their predecessors.

“I talked to Cam Kickbush before the semifinal game and I just sent him a couple of texts back and forth wishing he and the guys good luck and talking to them a little bit about playing in the Dome,” Hamer said. “And then, of course, I caught up with him after his injury.”

And what sage advice did Hamer bequeath to Kickbush?

“[I] gave him a little bit of a heads up,” Hamer said. “I know the first couple of times we went out to warm up in the Dome, your depth perception is really different, your first couple of passes might be way off just because you’re playing indoors and your depth perception is off.

“And then you get a few throws under your belt and you will adjust quickly. Just a couple of things like that I wanted to tell him so he wasn’t alarmed once he got out there.”

Nick Peterson, star running back on the 2004 team who rushed for 1,095 yards that season, said he’s been impressed not only by the skill level of this season’s team, but also by the herculean effort the Rebels exert on the gridiron.

“They have a lot of heart and they have some talented players and they have more talent than any team I’ve seen this season,” he said. “They have more speed and more talent.”

Peterson said he’s been especially impressed by the play of running back Eric Stoakes.

“I think Stoakes has some speed and runs the ball pretty well,” Peterson said.

So how would he compare himself with the Rebels speedy star running back?

“I think in overall speed, we’re probably pretty close.”

Peterson also had some prescient advice for the Rebels about the mindset they should have going into the game.

“To hang it all out there and understand that this might be your only chance,” he said. “I was young [he was a sophomore] when I made it and I kind of took it for granted that I’d be back again.”

“At some point the kids will realize as we did, there’s only two teams left in your whole class and the whole state and the eyes of all your peers are on you whether they’re at the game or watching it on TV,” Hamer added. “I’m not sure that truly hits you until after the fact but certainly coming into the Dome that day it was a bigger stage than we had ever felt before.”