Jentsch stars on both sides of the ball as Grandview knocks off Malakoff for first state title
As Grandview sophomore quarterback Dane Jentsch was rolling to his right late in the first quarter of Thursday night’s Class 3A Division I playoff game against Malakoff, he appeared to have teammate Cooper Deans open on the sideline for what would have been a first down.
Jentsch attempted to get Deans the ball but didn’t account for Malakoff’s Kaderrious Thomas, who was lurking in the secondary and made a leaping interception before taking off and returning the ball 32 yards for a Tigers’ touchdown.
Instead of letting the mistake set the tone for the rest of the game, Jentsch responded by driving the Zebras right back down the field on a 12-play, 69-yard drive that was capped off by a 4-yard TD pass from Jetnsch to Deans to tie the game at 7-7 early in the second quarter.
Jentsch’s poise and leadership was just what Grandview needed at AT&T Stadium, and the sophomore finished with 171 yards and three touchdowns passing and 89 yards and a score on the ground – not to mention his team-high nine tackles – to lead the Zebras to a 35-21 win to claim the program’s first ever state title.
“I’ll tell you what that says – he’s a competitor,” Grandview coach Brad Davis said. “When he makes a mistake like that, he knows it. You don’t have to tell him. He’s going to do whatever he can to get it back. That’s the type of kid he is. They don’t come any better.”
After taking a 21-14 lead into the half, thanks in large part to a 53-yard touchdown pass from Yentsch to Jacob Patterson and an interception from Ryan Schronk, Grandview needed some fourth-quarter heroics to hold off a Malakoff comeback in what turned out to be the most exciting game of the week thus far.
Zebras was prepared for a battle in rematch with Tigers
When Grandview found out Malakoff had pulled a slight upset in the Class 3A Division I semifinal last week, the pending title-game matchup could have given the Zebras confidence heading into a meeting of first-time state finalists.
For junior running back and linebacker Elijah Golden, it was a bit of the opposite.
Before Golden went out Thursday night and rushed for 103 yards and a touchdown in leading Grandview to a win in its first state championship appearance, he was actually pretty nervous about the rematch of a 28-7 Grandview win in nondistrict play.
“I was honestly a little bit worried,” Golden said. “Last year, we played Kemp in the regular season and beat them pretty bad and in Round 4 in the playoffs, (Malakoff) beat us. We thought of that, beating them 28-7 in nondistict and here we are playing them in the state championship? We thought they were gonna come out pissed off, and they did.”
In the previous meeting, Malakoff running back R.J. Carr missed the game with an injury. On Thursday, Carr was Malakoff’s leading rusher with 69 yards on 15 carries, but his presence didn’t change the final outcome – only made it a bit closer.
“We had people doubt us and say we couldn’t do it again with their running back back, and we had people tell us we couldn’t do it, but here we are,” sophomore defensive end Dametrious Crownover said. “We just knew we had to work harder this time around because they came with a grudge and a chip on their shoulder, and we knew we’d have to outwork them.”
Another byproduct of a rematch with so much at stake? The game got a bit chippy, especially late when Grandview was driving for a game-sealing touchdown in the final minute on a touchdown pass from sophomore Dane Jentsch to his classmate Crownover.
“I have respect for those boys, but at the same time, I don’t like them,” Golden said. “It felt so good beating them.”
- Adam Boedeker
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