There wasn’t much fancy going on in Friday afternoon’s Class 2A Division II region semifinal between the Gruver Greyhounds and Ropes Eagles at Happy State Stadium.
Gruver, though, has realized that fancy doesn’t necessarily keep you playing football when December comes.
For the second straight year, the Greyhounds have assured themselves at least one game in December by taking care of business against Ropes. Gruver got by with a less than sparkling offensive performance in a defensive-oriented game, and scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to get past Ropes, 23-13.
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The win puts Gruver (11-2) into next week’s region championship game in a rematch with district rival Stratford (11-2), at 7 p.m. this coming Friday at Happy State Bank Stadium.
Gruver never trailed, but the Greyhounds needed to show toughness when things got a little hairy late, and that seemed particularly rewarding to head coach Kurt Haberthur.
“(The Eagles) are a really good football team on both sides of the ball,” Haberthur said. “Defensively they just do so much that makes it hard to move the ball and they get fast pressure on the quarterback. We knew it would be pretty difficult moving forward.”
Despite dominating defensively in the first half, Gruver couldn’t manage any more than a 9-0 halftime lead, due in part to some offensive misfires and 85 yards in penalties.
Gruver outgained Ropes by a 304-138 margin, leaving the impression of a lopsided game. While Gruver’s Briggs Satterfield threw for 237 yards, the Greyhounds did next to nothing running the ball, especially in the first half, and Ropes did less than that no matter what play was called.
Both teams committed turnovers early, but neither offense took advantage. Satterfield hit sophomore Mason Lankford for a 9-yard gain for Gruver’s first completion on the first possession after the opening kickoff, but Lankford fumbled and Jackson Lehman recovered at the Gruver 32-yard line.
However, Gruver held on downs and took over. The Greyhounds would move the ball into Gruver territory later in the quarter, but the Greyhounds were also held on downs.
In a statistical oddity, the Greyhounds didn’t have a single rushing first down in the first half.
“They were shifting some stuff and once we got in and got to make adjustments we were able to hit back of some of their overshift and that’s what we did in the second half,” Haberthur said.
Early in the second quarter, Ropes (11-2) lined up to punt inside its own 40, but Gruver blocked Zayden Pittman’s kick and recovered at the Ropes 21. Two plays later, Satterfield hit Lankford for an 18-yard scoring pass in the end zone to make it 6-0.
Satterfield and Lankford were a potent combination in the first half, as Lankford had five catches for 139 yards. He also was a key on defense in the secondary with his glue-like coverage.
“I come into every game thinking if the ball’s going to come to me I’m going to come down with it,” Lankford said. “At the start of the game I had some problems but I knew I had to bounce back from that. The experience we have had and the path we have taken so far has really helped us. I feel like our defense really won us that game.”
Gruver marched inside the Ropes 5 and had first and goal, but a third down sack of Satterfield set the Greyhounds back to face a fourth down. Emmanuel Valverde salvaged things with a 32-yard field goal with 18 seconds left in the half to make it 9-0.
In the third quarter, the Greyhounds were saddled with bad field position and twice. Valverde’s two punts netted a total of eight yards, but Ropes could only turn them into seven points on a 13-yard scoring pass from Kade Franklin to Zayden Pittman to cut it to 9-7 late in the third quarter.
“As soon as we were backed up and (Ropes) had a really short field, everybody on the sideline knew our defense was going to really be tough,” Haberthur said. “We forced them into a missed field goal that first time. You can’t let them get too many times down there, statistically they’re bound to score at any level.”
That seemed to wake up the Greyhounds with one quarter left. They responded with a touchdown drive, as Satterfield kept it on a 14-yard scoring run 53 seconds into the fourth quarter to make it 16-7.
With 3:38 left in the game, Satterfield scored on a 6-yard run to put the icing on the cake.
“We just knew that if we got out of that field position we could potentially get in our formations to run the ball and put the game away and that’s what we did,” said Satterfield, who ran for a game-high 58 yards. “I just think we dug in. Early on we were struggling but we got it going. We just wanted it.
“You go to two-a-days in August and dream of playing December football. That’s what you try to do every year. It means everything.”
Ropes made it look closer when Franklin connected with Pittman for a second scored from 24 yards out with 1:01 left in the game, but the Eagles never got the ball back.