CEDAR FALLS – The Grundy Center football team has set the bar for expectations to come.
On Thursday evening, the Spartans didn't come home with the Class A state championship they craved, and the young talent may clench and gnaw on that loss like rawhide in preparation for putting the shoulder pads back on next August.
Travis Zajac, in his first year as head coach in Grundy Center, acknowledged a more immediate difficulty in the 21-17 loss to undefeated West Hancock in the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls: the finality of it all.
"I know I'll struggle with that," Zajac said. "I'm gonna want to schedule practice next week and keep it rolling. But unfortunately, it's ended."
Since arriving to town with his wife and two children over the summer from Dubuque Wahlert, Zajac has been effusive with praise and gratefulness for the talent that surrounded him this season, whether between the hash-marks or alongside him on the sideline. The six Spartan seniors are no exception.
The future is undoubtedly bright in Grundy Center. But the soft-spoken Zajac is unlikely to forget his first senior class at Grundy Center.
"Thanks for giving a guy a chance," Zajac said. "I was an 0-9 football coach last year at Wahlert Catholic. To accept me like they [the seniors] did, to be willing to do everything I asked of them and then some, I can't tell you what kind of character these six young men have and they're a product of the families that raised them. I'm a better man for having spent five-plus months around them."
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Grundy Center finished the season 11-2, allowing no more than 21 points in a single game and losing both games by a combined five points – the Spartans' other loss was to state quarterfinalist North Tama, 14-13, on a last-second play.
