Photo by Brian McLean
By Nolan Ruth
X – @RealNolanRuth
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CROWLEY— For the first time since 2019, Johnson County’s own Grandview Zebras will return to AT&T Stadium in Arlington to compete for the 3A Division I state championship after defeating the Peaster Greyhounds in a tightly contested semifinal matchup.
The teams traded blows throughout the game, but in the end it was the Zebras that made the plays when needed, pulling off a 21-18 victory. They will now face the Yoakum Bulldogs at 3 p.m. Thursday, December 18 for a possible third state title in program history.
Things started out rocky for the Grandview offense that totaled 325 total yards on the night. After driving across midfield, they failed on fourth down, giving the ball over to the Greyhounds.
Peaster quickly got into the redzone but stalled, setting up a 21-yard Cade McCollough field goal to put them on top 3-0 after one quarter of play.
After stopping the Greyhounds on fourth down near midfield, the Zebras finally got the big play they had been looking for when Mason Landers connected with Briggs Jentsch for a 46 yard passing play to put the ball at the one yard line. On the next play, Jentsch punched it in himself out of the wildcat.
The defense got another stop just before the half, but unfortunately a Zebra field goal attempt was pushed wide, leaving the score at 7-3 going into the locker room after one half of play.
Out of the break, Peaster came out firing and drove the ball methodically down the field, covering 68 yards on nine plays and taking over five minutes off the clock, before Hudson Salyers broke free for a 28-yard scoring run. That gave the Greyhounds a 10-7 lead.
It only took two plays for Grandview to respond when Landers found a wide open Brady Slinkard up the middle from 79 yards away to reclaim the lead for good, at 14-10 after three quarters.
On the opening play of the fourth quarter, Peaster had the ball at the Zebra two yard line but failed to convert on fourth down. Despite the bad field position to start the drive, Grandview drove 97 yards on 12 plays, setting up a one yard score on the option for Elijah Dominguez to extend the lead to 21-10.
Despite a late Peaster score on the ensuing drive by Hudson Salyers, the Zebras recovered the onside kick and got a first down to take control of the clock and kneel it out, sending them to their third state championship.
Jentsch is the younger brother of former Zebra player Dane Jentsch, who is now on staff for the Zebras. Dane Jentsch was both offensive and defensive MVP for both of the Zebras’ state championships in 2018 and 2019.
The younger Jentsch finished his night with 64 total yards and a touchdown, continuing his family legacy of taking Grandview to Arlington.
