Iowa City Regina rolls to 31-12 Class 1A state football semifinal win over Grundy Center

CEDAR FALLS — Savion Miller was in middle school the last time Iowa City Regina won a state football title.

He recalled wanting to have the same experience as his brother, Santana, who was a freshman on that Class A championship team.

“I remember him winning that and I was a little jealous,” Miller said. “I just want to go down there and do it again.”

Well, Miller will get his chance. The junior running back rushed for 167 yards and a touchdown and quarterback Kyle Tracy 243 total yards and accounted for three scores in third-ranked Regina’s 31-12 victory over No. 1 Grundy Center in a Class 1A state semifinal football game Friday at the UNI-Dome.

“It feels really good,” Tracy said. “It's a win against a team that is really good, but it was never our end goal to get to the semifinals and beat Grundy Center. We've always wanted to win a state championship and we've earned an opportunity to go and try to do that, so we're going to be focusing on the next game.”

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Regina snapped Grundy Center’s 50-game win streak and three-year title reign, returning to the finals for the first time since 2020. The Regals (12-0) play No. 2 West Lyon (12-0) Thursday set for 4 p.m.

“We're going to be ready for next week,” Regina senior Drew Greve said. “It’s surreal. I haven’t even been to the Dome before.”

As for Miller, he has a trump card if the Regals can complete a perfect season.

“I might be able to get some bragging rights,” Miller said with a laugh. “He was a freshman at the time. He didn't play much, but I got to help bring my team, our team got to bring ourselves to the state championship (game).”

Simply put. Regina outlasted Grundy Center and imposed its will through the ground game. The Regals compiled 289 yards on the ground, including 164 after the break. Most coming in two crucial scoring drives that helped the Regals pull away.

“It is huge,” Regina Coach Dustin Elsbury said. “In order to win big games, win in the playoffs and at the Dome, you're going to have to run the ball. You're going to have to win at the line scrimmage. I think we did that on both sides of the ball.”

Regina opened the second half with a 64-yard drive on 11 plays that melted 7:21 off the clock, culminating in a Gabriel Hegelheimer 31-yard field goal and 17-10 advantage.

Grundy Center pinned Regina on its 1 on the next possession. On the first play, Spartans linebacker Aiden Hook was unblocked and drilled Tracy in the back of the end zone for a safety, moving within five at the end of the third.

Grundy Center drove to Regina’s 22 when James Whisler picked off a Judd Jirovsky pass inside the five, setting up the definitive drive of the game. Regina churned out 11 straight runs for 96 yards, including nine carries and 82 yards from Miller. He rattled off gains of 15, 10, 22 and 11 during the series, capping it with a 1-yard TD for a 24-12 lead with 4:13 remaining.

“Just happened that drive they were blocking really good,” Miller said. “I was able to make a couple of guys miss and we just were going to run the ball down their throat.

“It's definitely tiring because you’re having to run through so many people and keep on doing all that … but I didn't want to let my team down, so I had to toughen up and push through it.”

Miller finished with 114 yards after halftime. The dual-threat Tracy rushed for 121 yards with almost 50 in the final two quarters.

“I can’t say enough about the guys up front,” Elsbury said. “We ended up going double tight ends with Tate (Wallace) and Will (Litton). Our line dug deep and they kind of leaned on each other to just grind that clock out and wear them down as we took it down the field.”

Tracy rushed for two TDs, scoring on a 12-yard run in the second for a 14-10 halftime lead. He added a 5-yard TD run with 41 seconds remaining in the game. His 37-yard scoring strike to Greve gave Regina its first lead at 7-3 with 4:58 to go in the opening quarter.

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“If they gameplan to stop the pass, we know we can run,” Tracy said. “If they gameplan to stop the run, we know that we can pass. Props to Savion but even more props for our offensive line for giving us those holes. We know a couple of them are going both ways, and they're tired, but they did not give up.”

Grundy Center (11-1) enter the semifinal, averaging 41.9 points per game. The Spartans managed 267 yards but only reached the end zone once — a 14-yard pass from Jirovsky to Eli Wegmann for a 10-7 lead early in the second quarter. Grundy Center’s all-state quarterback passed for 196 yards but was intercepted three times (he only threw five in the previous 11 games), including twice by Greve.

Jirovsky said Regina’s physicality, depth and overall balance was tough to overcome.

“No fault to any of the effort of our guys but sometimes you just meet your match a little bit,” said Jirovsky, who signed to play golf next year at Stanford. “Great gameplan by them, too.”

Regina will make its 13th championship game appearance, ranking fifth all-time. The Regals have the chance to claim a ninth state crown, which would tie Emmetsburg for third.

“We had a great game,” Greve said. “Next week, we're going to put in a great film session. All the credit to the coaches. Our players played their heads off.

“We're going work hard over this next week. We're going to be ready to go.”

IOWA CITY REGINA 31

GRUNDY CENTER 12

AT UNI-DOME

ICR GC

First Downs 24 16

Rushes-yards 45-289 28-71

Passing yards 122 196

Comp-att-int 6-13-2 18-35-3

Total yards 411 267

Fumbles-lost 1-1 0-0

Punts-avg. 0-0 3-37.7

Penalties-yards 6-40 1-10

Iowa City Regina 7 7 3 14 -- 31

Grundy Center 3 7 2 0 -- 12

GC – FG Aiden Betts 29

ICR – Drew Greve 37 pass from Kyle Tracy (Gabriel Hegelheimer kick)

GC – Eli Wegmann 14 pass from Judd Jirovsky (Betts kick)

ICR – Tracy 12 run (Hegelheimer kick)

ICR – FG Hegelheimer 31

GC – Safety (Aiden Hook sack of Tracy)

ICR – Savion Miller 1 run (Hegelheimer kick)

ICR – Tracy 5 run (Hegelheimer kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – I.C. Regina: Miller 21-167, Tracy 21-121, Aaron Honore 1-4, Team 1-(minus 3). Grundy Center: Jirovsky 16-65, Hayden Geerdes 4-5, Pete Lebo 7-3, Team 1-(minus 2).

PASSING – I.C. Regina: Tracy 6-13-2-122. Grundy Center: Jirovsky 18-34-3-196, Team 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING – I.C. Regina: Greve 2-44, Tate Wallace 2-40, Edwin Gangba 1-38, Carter Slager 1-0. Grundy Center: Wegmann 9-76, Brayden Davie 4-52, Lebo 2-38, Devin Hinders 2-16, Geerdes 1-14.

Comments: kj.pilcher@thegazette.com