GLADBROOK — The Gladbrook-Reinbeck football team advanced to within one win of the UNI-Dome by beating Iowa Valley 57-32 in last Friday’s 8-Man playoffs at “The Pit.”

The seventh-ranked Rebels (9-1) led by 24 points after Drew Eilers converted his third touchdown run of the night, covering 39 yards with 8:53 left in the third quarter, before Iowa Valley (8-2) countered with three of the next four scores.

The Tigers closed to within 43-32 on an 11-yard touchdown run by Nolan Kriegel with 1:17 left in the third, but Gladbrook-Reinbeck followed with consecutive scoring drives to keep Iowa Valley at bay.

G-R’s two longest drives time-wise took the air out of the Tigers’ sail and advanced the Rebel advantage to its final.

Eilers finished with 25 carries for 140 yards and five touchdowns to lead the offense, while his 20-yard interception return for touchdown sparked the G-R defense on the first play of the second quarter. It gave the Rebels a 21-6 lead that grew again later in the period when Hudson Clark picked off another Kriegel pass and scored two plays later on a 42-yard catch-and-run.

Iowa Valley never went away, outscoring G-R 20-15 in the third quarter before running out of steam in the fourth. Gladbrook-Reinbeck put the win away with scoring drives of 3 minutes, 21 seconds, and 4 minutes, 10 seconds.

Clark tallied three catches for 87 yards, and his 60-yard kickoff return for touchdown came after consecutive scoring drives for Iowa Valley. The Tigers inched within 36-24 before Clark ran right, emerged from a pile, spun out of a tackle and took the ball back for his first kickoff return TD of the season.

Treyvon Herron contributed 47 yards rushing and a 50-yard reception for the Rebels, who will visit Gilbertville next Thursday night for a quarterfinal clash with No. 5 Don Bosco. The Dons (10-0) defeated WACO of Wayland, 47-7, to earn home-field advantage after having beaten G-R 33-26 in both teams’ season-openers.

Iowa Valley, the second-leading scoring 8-Man team in the state, got a whopping 265 yards on 40 carries from Kriegel. He scored four touchdowns on the ground and caught another, reeling in a 9-yard pass from Layne Peska with 10 seconds left in the first half.

G-R nearly countered the late score with one of its own as Eilers hit Clark on a 47-yard bomb down to the 5-yard-line, but the Iowa Valley defense withstood a trick play by the Rebels on the final snap of the half.

On Thursday, Nov. 7, the Rebels were scheduled to take on undefeated, top-ranked Don Bosco (10-0) in the 8-Player quarterfinals at Don Bosco Football Field in Gilbertville. G-R narrowly lost 33-26 to the Dons back on Aug. 30 during their season opener.

No. 7 Gladbrook-Reinbeck 57, Iowa Valley 32

At Gladbrook

IAV 6 6 20 0 — 32

G-R 14 14 15 14 — 57

First Quarter

G-R — Drew Eilers 29 run (Brayden Utter kick), 10:50.

IAV — Nolan Kriegel 36 run (run failed), 7:13.

G-R — Eilers 1 run (Utter kick), :26.

Second Quarter

G-R — Eilers 20 interception return (Utter kick), 11:52.

G-R — Hudson Clark 42 pass from Eilers (Utter kick), 7:59.

IAV — Kriegel 9 pass from Layne Peska (run failed), :10.

Third Quarter

G-R — Eilers 39 run (Clark pass from Eilers), 8:53.

IAV — Kriegel 5 run (run failed), 7:57.

IAV — Kriegel 26 run (run failed), 3:33.

G-R — Clark 60 kickoff return (Utter kick), 3:19.

IAV — Kriegel 11 run (Peska pass from Kriegel), 1:17.

Fourth Quarter

G-R — Eilers 3 run (Utter kick), 9:56.

G-R — Eilers 3 run (Utter kick), 3:13.

TEAM STATISTICS

IAV G-R

First Downs 19 13

Rushes-yards 49-297 36-193

Passing Yards 58 142

Comp-Att-Int 6-15-2 5-9-0

Total Offense 64-355 45-335

Fumbles-lost 1-0 0-0

Penalties-yards 4-46 6-45

Time of Poss. 27:39 19:43

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — IAV: Kriegel 40-265, Chance Hoyt 5-33, Caleb Haack 1-4, Team 1-3, Dane Smith 1-(minus-1), Peska 2-(minus-7); G-R — Eilers 25-140, Treyvon Herron 6-47, Clark 2-9, Team 3-(minus-3).

PASSING — IAV: Kriegel 5-12-49-2, Peska 1-2-9-0, Haack 0-1-0-0; G-R: Eilers 5-9-142-0.

RECEIVING — IAV: Haack 5-43, Kriegel 1-9, Mason Hoyt 1-6; G-R — Clark 3-87, Herron 1-50, Michael Boyd 1-6.