Gladbrook-Reinbeck senior lineman Jace Aneweer (58) celebrates after the Rebels defeated previously unbeaten Lenox 43-27 in Wednesday’s 8-Player state semifinal game at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls. PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER

CEDAR FALLS — There’s only one more ‘one more’ left for Gladbrook-Reinbeck football.

The Rebels have slowly, but steadily, advanced further and further in the 8-Player postseason bracket in recent years, and now they’ve taken their biggest step forward yet.

Gladbrook-Reinbeck upended top-seeded Lenox, 43-27, in an 8-Player semifinal at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls on Wednesday (Nov. 13) afternoon.

The Rebels advance to the championship game against Remsen St. Mary’s at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 21. It’s the first 8-Player championship game appearance for G-R — the Rebels won back-to-back state titles in Class A in 2015-2016.

“When I was younger, I watched the 2016 team win state,” said G-R junior Hudson Clark. “That’s awesome to grow up, and now it’s our turn. No better group of guys to do it with.”

Gladbrook-Reinbeck defenders Treyvon Herron (9) and Trevor Mathern (13) break up a pass intended for Lenox’s Laramie Stoaks (2) during Wednesday’s 8-Player state football semifinal at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls. PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER

Drew Eilers carried the ball 31 times for 146 yards and four touchdowns for G-R in the victory. The senior quarterback also completed 8-of-12 passes for 99 yards.

“The O-line just does a heck of a job blocking,” Eilers said. “Sean Babinat and Tyler Eiffler are great O-line coaches for us and Hudson and Trey [Herron] are such explosive players that the defense has to make sure they’re on them, which just gives me more open spaces.”

Gladbrook-Reinbeck had a solid 29-14 halftime lead, but G-R’s only drive of the third quarter ended in a punt and Lenox quarterback Gabe Funk capped two Tiger drives with rushing scores to trim the lead to 29-27 four seconds in to the fourth quarter.

On 2nd-and-13 from the G-R 36, Eilers completed a slip screen pass to Treyvon Herron, who broke free for a 36-yard gain to the Lenox 8-yard line.

Two plays later, Herron was in on a 5-yard rushing touchdown and Brayden Utter’s point-after kick made it a two-score game once again at 36-27.

Gladbrook-Reinbeck sophomore Treyvon Herron (9) is joined in celebration by teammate Kael Blohm (4) after scoring on a 32-yard touchdown run during the first quarter of Wednesday’s 8-Player state semifinal football game at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls. The Rebels knocked off Lenox 43-27 to advance to the 8-Player championship game for the first time. PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER

“I was thinking, ‘Oh, I don’t know if I’m going to like this play,'” Eilers said of the slip screen. “We had done it before and hadn’t gotten anything, but he got it downfield, and then ran that puppy in.”

The Tigers were just past midfield on their next drive when a Funk pass was intercepted by a leaping Trevor Mathern, returning the interception to the Lenox 22.

“That was awesome,” Eilers said. “That made me feel so much more confident about us winning.”

Eilers used that confidence to get four good rushes on a five-play scoring drive, including a 2-yard barrel into the end zone to make it 43-27 Rebels with 5:15 left in the game.

Olson credited the personnel around Eilers like blockers Michael Boyd, Jace Aneweer, Gavin Blakesley and Garrett Gebel up front for helping the senior QB elevate his game on Wednesday.

PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER

“Drew will tell you without those guys, he’s not doing anything,” Olson added. “But Drew works so hard that you’re not gonna outwork him, whether it’s in the classroom, on the field. He’s probably gonna go to work on the farm after this and be up at 5:45 tomorrow morning lifting weights. You aren’t outworking him. But the guys around him end up pretty good because they try to outwork him. He just makes everyone around him better.”

Lenox had a 14-7 lead midway through the first quarter after gashing the G-R defense on two touchdown drives, including the Tigers’ opening drive with Funk running in a 50-yard touchdown on the first play from scrimmage.

Olson said changing up defensive looks from then on was the key.

“In the past, we’ve been 3-2 defense all the time, had the right people in the right spots, and it went smooth for us,” Olson said. “This year, it didn’t quite work for us so we’ve challenged ourselves to run a two-man or a four-man front. It hasn’t worked all that well, but tonight we ran a 3-2, 3-1, 4-1, 4-2, lot of different things, and it was pretty seamless.

“Gotta give credit to defensive coordinator Brett Bengen and defensive backs coach James Weida, Andrew Billerbeck coaching the defensive line, those guys do a great job coaching those kids, getting them aligned and moving personnel.”

PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER

After the two touchdown drives, Lenox’s next four first-half drives ended in two turnovers on downs, a punt and the halftime horn.

Everything just runs smoothly with the Rebel staff, which helps build up a competitive scout team for G-R to contend with.

“Our scout team guys are always talking trash to us,” Clark said. “We drop a ball, overthrow a ball their hands are up, cheering ‘Go Tigers!’ — but at the end of the day, we all sit down and talk to each other and say, ‘What do I need to fix? What do we need to do to fix this?’, and that’s awesome.”

Olson made it clear in a post-game huddle that this win belongs to all 36 guys on the Rebel roster.

“I’m extremely proud of this team and what we’ve been through,” Herron said. “We lost to [Don] Bosco in that first game and we’ve just been battling back ever since. Gotta keep pushing.”

PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER

The Rebels were fodder for early postseason exits until 2022, when G-R reached the quarterfinal round before bowing out to Newell-Fonda. In 2023, G-R broke through to the Dome, only to lose on a last-second field goal by Bedford in the semifinals.

“We were so close last year, that was a horrible feeling,” Clark said. “This year, we said it would be our year. Why not? We brought back so many guys, we all rely on each other, we’ve played football together forever, and we go out there and play for one another.”

Remsen St. Mary’s used a touchdown in the final seconds to knock off the defending champions Bishop Garrigan, 22-20, in the other semifinal on Wednesday.

The Hawks are no stranger to the top of the 8-Player mountain, with two championships in the last four years, most recently in 2022.

“We’re gonna enjoy right now,” Olson said. “We proved we’re a really good football team tonight, and we’ll look at Remsen St. Mary’s and say, ‘Whoa, they’re pretty darn good, too.’ So what are we gonna do to stop them?

“If they end up being better than us, it is the way it is. But we focus on the now, just try to outwork people and try to do the best we can.”

State Football Playoffs

Semifinal Round

At UNI-Dome, Cedar Falls

Wednesday’s Scores

8-Player

Remsen-St. Mary’s 22, Bishop Garrigan 20

Gladbrook-Reinbeck 43, Lenox 27

—-

Championship Finals

Thursday, Nov. 21

8-PLAYER

Gladbrook-Reinbeck (11-1) vs. Remsen-St. Mary’s (12-0), 9:30 a.m.

—-

Gladbrook-Reinbeck 43, Lenox 27

Score by Quarter

G-R 14 15 0 14 — 43

LENOX 14 0 6 7 — 27

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

G-R — Drew Eilers 4 run (Brayden Utter kick), 8:39.

LEN — Gabe Funk 50 run (Funk kick), 8:31.

LEN — Kolben Robinson 7 run (Funk kick), 6:30.

G-R — Treyvon Herron 32 run (Utter kick), 5:38.

Second Quarter

G-R — Eilers 4 run (kick failed), 11:56.

G-R — FG Utter 21, 7:04.

G-R — Eilers 5 run (kick failed), 1:00.

Third Quarter

LEN — Funk 5 run (pass failed), 6:16.

Fourth Quarter

LEN — Funk 2 run (Funk kick), 11:56.

G-R — Herron 5 run (Utter kick), 9:46.

G-R — Eilers 2 run (Utter kick), 5:15.

TEAM STATISTICS

G-R LEN

First Downs 17 18

Rushes-yards 47-233 39-306

Passing Yards 99 64

Comp-Att-Int 8-12-0 11-22-1

Total Offense 59-332 61-370

Fumbles-lost 0-0 2-0

Penalties-yards 5-35 10-70

Time of Poss. 26:53 21:07

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — G-R: Eilers 31-146, Herron 11-75, Hudson Clark 3-8, Kael Blohm 1-5, TEAM 1-(minus-1); LENOX: Funk 21-182, Jordan Martin-England 14-103, Robinson 4-21.

PASSING — G-R: Eilers 8-12-99-0; LENOX: Funk , TEAM 0-2-0-0, Martin-England 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING — G-R: Herron 4-54, Clark 2-38, Michael Boyd 1-7, Blohm 1-0; LENOX: Laramie Stoaks 6-25, Martin-England 3-20, Jack Reed 1-13, Robinson 1-6.