GARWIN – The Gladbrook-Reinbeck football team scored three touchdowns in each of the first three quarters of a 72-0 shutout of GMG in last Friday’s (Sept. 18) 8-Man District 6 showdown.

The Rebels (4-0, 3-0) averaged 16.1 yards per play in the wire-to-wire win, racking up 530 yards of total offense. Treyvon Herron led G-R’s rushing attack with eight carries for 155 yards and four touchdowns. Chad Gutknecht added 63 yards and two touchdown runs, Brayton Dripps went 61 yards for a score on his only carry, and quarterback Bennett Sieh added a rushing TD.

Sieh was 8-for-9 passing for 172 yards and two scores as well, connecting with Herron for a 30-yard touchdown and Brayden Utter for a 1-yard TD.

Kooper had an interception and a fumble recovery for the G-R defense, which allowed just 36 yards of offense for GMG.

The Wolverines (3-2, 0-2) completed 7-of-14 passes for 37 yards and finished with minus-1 yards rushing. Jacoby Woodbury had four receptions for 16 yards and one carry for eight yards, while Dustin Miller had two catches for 13 yards and one rush for 10 yards.

Ethan Klemesrud, the state’s leading tackler, had 8.5 stops to lead the GMG defense.

Ahead of the game, both programs’ head coaches were interviewed by KDAO Radio. GMG head coach Seth Hedman, in his first year at the helm of the Wolverines, praised both Herron’s abilities and G-R’s legacy football program for the team’s continued success.

“They’ve got an … All-American quality running back over there,” Hedman said in reference to Herron. “And they’ve got a long-established program. They’ll definitely be the best team we face this season. It’s one of those games where we’re not just playing the players, we’re playing the program. You’re playing against 30, 32 guys on the bench. You’re playing against all the Boosters and parents and supporters, the alumni that come back to assistant-coach. They’ve just got so much network support that really does put them at another level.”

Hedman also discussed how he prepares his team to face such a monumental foe – one literally in GMG’s backyard.

“It’s just high school boys, right? And that’s been part of my messaging this week. We’ve all seen the games of upsets … We’ve gotta have (that) mentality, coming in – with the best team we’ve had for maybe a decade – and be able to say, ‘hey, we can hang with anybody, we’re just playing high school boys.'”

During the halftime portion of last Friday night’s clash between the Wolverines and Rebels in Garwin, host GMG celebrated future generations of high school football players with Youth Recognition Night. PHOTO COURTESY OF GMG WOLVERINE ATHLETICS

For his part, G-R head coach John Olson told KDAO ahead of Friday’s clash that the Wolverines present a challenge this season.

“They’ve got some good players, that’s for sure. They’re well-organized, you can tell by the coach, what he does over there,” Olson said before adding: “They’ve got some size to them as well – we’re not a very big team. We’re looking forward to that challenge and playing at their (field).”

Olson also touched on G-R’s bumpy start to the season due to the Week 2 forfeit by Meskwaki – a scheduling vacancy the Rebels were unable to fill despite the district’s best efforts.

“We’re not quite yet in a routine and that’s a little different than a normal Week 4 team. At the same time, we’ve got confidence in ourselves, and we know that, hopefully, we can accomplish what we need to accomplish.”

Tonight, Friday, Sept. 25, G-R will face non-district Don Bosco (3-1, 3-0) at home in Gladbrook, while GMG hits the road to Maxwell for a district clash with the Spartans (1-3, 1-1). Both games kickoff at 7 p.m.