Gladbrook-Reinbeck returns 11 football letterwinners from last season’s team. Pictured are (from left) front row: Cameron Sieh, Hudson Clark, Kael Blohm, Treyvon Herron and Drew Stanek; back row: Garrett Gebel, Hunter Roberts, Drew Eilers, Michael Boyd, Jace Aneweer and Trevor Mathern. PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER

REINBECK — Toughness drives everything that Gladbrook-Reinbeck football does.

The Rebels have shown steady improvement since moving to 8-man in 2018 and reached new heights last fall as state semifinalists, making their first appearance in the UNI-Dome as an 8-man squad.

G-R returns three all-state players from that 10-2 campaign to help guide a balanced, deep Rebel roster into battle this fall.

“Every year is different, but we’ve made improvements every single year,” G-R football head coach John Olson said. “I don’t necessarily think it’s because our X’s and O’s are better or even our athletes are better, but our weight training and our overall commitment in the program has gone up quite a bit each year.”

The Rebels have 36 players out total across varsity and JV with an even split between upper and underclassmen.

Leading the charge is the trio of returning all-state picks; senior Drew Eilers and junior Hudson Clark were first-team selections last season and senior lineman Michael Boyd was a second-team selection.

Defensively, those three combined for 66 tackles for loss and 238.5 total tackles last season.

Those guys are tough, certainly, but Olson noted toughness is more than just smash-mouth football.

“I think the guys know what that means — when you get down to the final four, you know the toughest team out there is going to win,” Olson said. “We’ve got teammates in leadership groups that are talking about outworking guys in a good, competitive way. You may be faster than me, but I can outwork you, and if they’re doing that, that’s a message that the other guy’s got to pick it up, to hold each other accountable.”

The Rebels lost to a last-second field goal in a 31-30 defeat versus Bedford in the UNI-Dome last November.

That doesn’t have to be the end of G-R’s journeys at the UNI-Dome if the commitment and toughness translates on game days.

“I think the more often you have more kids out to build a strong JV pro- gram, that gets you more opportunities to get to the Dome, especially when you have some of those special athletes that can carry you there.”

Sophomore returner Treyvon Herron (three kicks returned for touch- downs) and senior Hunter Roberts (63 tackles, 11.5 for loss in 2023) are among the other top returners based on their production last season.

“We’ve got some solid returning players, a few guys that didn’t make all-state last year,” Olson said, “and three or four more guys that have just really progressed a lot, whether it be in the weight room in the offseason or throughout the sea- son last year.

“We’ve definitely got some high-end talent, but we’ve also got a kind of team where we’re really deep at places where if someone gets hurt or needs a break, we’ve got some good depth. And having 18 upperclassmen is pretty awesome for our program.”

The Rebels may likely tussle with Clarksville once again for the district title — the Indians won last year’s district title with a narrow 38-36 win in Gladbrook last year but G-R had the last laugh with a 32-20 tri- umph in a state quarterfinals rematch in Clarksville to reach the UNI-Dome.

But there’s plenty of football between now and that rematch on Oct. 11, including the season-opener in Gilbertville with a traditionally-strong Don Bosco team that the Rebels beat for the first time in five tries last fall.

“And then we’ve got Tripoli, which was down last year but they’re well-coached and that’s on a Thursday where we have one less day to prepare,” Olson said. “How good are we? We’re not good yet, but I think we can be.”

2024 Gladbrook-Reinbeck Football Schedule

(all games at 7 p.m.)

Friday, Aug. 30 at Don Bosco

Thursday, Sept. 5 at Tripoli

Friday, Sept. 13 v. MESKWAKI

Friday, Sept. 20 v. DUNKERTON

Friday, Sept. 27 at Janesville

Friday, Oct. 4 v. BGM

Friday, Oct. 11 at Clarksville

Friday, Oct. 18 v. GMG