Grand Meadow Snags State 9-Man Title With Win Over Underwood

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Grand Meadow powered through an undefeated record this season and 35 straight wins on the strength of its running game.

The Superlarks demonstrated their passing game to win their 36th straight game and third consecutive 9-Man state title.

Michael Stejskal's four touchdowns led Grand Meadow to a come-from-behind 34-20 win against Underwood on Friday in the 9-Man championship game. Stejskal was 12-of-19 passing for 218 yards and three touchdown passes, and he added 110 yards rushing.

"A lot of peoplee think that we don't like to throw," Superlarks coach Gary Sloan said. "We're not afraid to throw the ball."

Grand Meadow hadn't needed to turn to its passing game while running through another undefeated schedule. While outscoring teams by an average of 33.7 points per game heading into Friday, the Superlarks averaged 247.5 rushing yards per game.

Facing Underwood in the state tournament for the third straight year, Grand Meadow knew it would have potential for a short passing game. Sloan said the team prepared all week and changed some of its routes based on the meeting last year when the Superlarks beat the Rockets in the state quarterfinals.

"I think I have a passing attack, I just don't use it very often," said Stejskal, a senior. "We always practice every day passing. Today they played their safeties deep and we practiced hard in practice that we needed to throw underneath and just get people open, then have the big play come after that."

Underwood held Grand Meadow to 117 yards rushing until Stejskal finished the scoring with a 71-yard touchdown run with 2 minutes, 14 seconds remaining in the game. But the Rockets lost three fumbles, including once at the goal line to negate a likely touchdown, and had five turnovers.

Coy Thorson rushed for 148 yards and a touchdown for Underwood, which finished as runner-up to Grand Meadow for the second time in three years. The Rockets lost 28-6 in the Prep Bowl in 2013.

"Obviously right now the disappointment is huge, but we've lost three games to the best program in Minnesota 9-man football," Underwood coach Chuck Ross said. "We gave them a battle today. We came out, smacked them in the mouth and I don't think they were used to that. I guess it just wasn't meant to be today."

(© Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)