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Iowa-Grant's football team tried to stay with Darlington Friday and for two and a half quarters they did.
The Panthers shook off the only completed pass of the day for the Redbirds that resulted in a 19 yard Cole McDonald to 6-4, 245 pound senior tight end Michael Ruf first quarter touchdown. They didn't quiver when Jason Singer ran in from the 17 early in the second quarter for a 13-0 halftime lead.
In fact they came out the third period and cut the lead to one score when Isaac Anderson fired a pass to Trent Milliken who carried it 75 yards to the house.
That play impressed Panther coach Gary Allen.
"We had a few well executed pass plays and that was one of them," Allen said. "Trent showed great effort on the touchdown."
The Redbirds answered when Singer was forced to take a cut back route and scored at the 4:25 mark on a 15 yard carry.
The Panthers tried to move the football but 19 seconds later Jordan Johnson picked off a pass and took the interception 39 yards to score.
If that didn't break the Panthers, Tanner Wiegel did with a 15 yard scoring run with 7:33 left in the game.
Wiegel had 143 yards in 13 carries while Myles Leahy recorded 132 on 22 tries.
They ran behind Darlington's huge line all afternoon and accounted for 275 of the Redbirds' total of 342.
The fact that the 'Birds ran 48 plays on the ground to 23 for the Panthers made it a long afternoon.
Iowa-Grant had 51 yards rushing and 216 passing.
The Redbird line play was a key factor in the win.
"Their offensive line really controlled the game," Allen said. "They were more physical and aggressive than we were. Their backs ran very hard also."
Trying to make up for the size difference was too big of a task for the Panthers.
"Darlington took our running game away and we couldn't match their physicality," Allen said.
He said the Redbirds appeared to be more ready for the game than the Panthers.
"Their kids came into the game very fired up and had a good game plan which their kids executed very well," Allen said. "We need to do better in that area. There wasn't really one key play. They just lined up and shoved the ball down our throat."
The big Redbird line seemed to make it easy for their stable of backs.
"All of their backs run very hard and are quick," Allen said. "Running behind that offensive line makes them even more dangerous."
The Panthers will be working on game preparation heavily this week.
"As Head Coach it is my job to prepare our kids properly and find ways to win games like that," Allen said.
Next up is a home game with Cuba City.
"Cuba City has an excellent program," Allen said. "They are quick and play very hard. We will need to play very well."