Grand Rapids Football Team Motivated by Preseason Injuries to Senior Captains

The Thunderhawks will face Orono in the Class AAAA state quarterfinals. Kick-off Thursday at Osseo High School is set for 7 p.m.

GRAND RAPIDS, Minn. – The Grand Rapids football team is getting set for its first trip to the state tournament since 2006.

And it wasn’t easy as they had to knock off previously unbeaten North Branch in the section title game. And it came during a year when they lost two of their four senior captains before the season even started: Jake Smith and Andrew Thompson.

“We’re able to fight because they fight, because we see it every day. We see the pain on their faces not being able to be out there and the joy that they have when we do well. Knowing that they’re with us and that they’ve been with us the whole time I think really carried all of us,” head coach Greg Spahn said.

The Thunderhawks will face Orono in the Class AAAA state quarterfinals. The Spartans are on a Cinderella run too as they won their section as a four seed and won only two games in the regular season.

“They played a pretty tough schedule. They played a bunch of bigger schools. They’re mainly a zone team. They want to run inside zone, stretch. They’ve got a back #20 who’s pretty good. Their quarterback’s got a pretty good arm on him. They’ll be tough but at this point in the season, everybody is,” said Spahn.

The Thunderhawks take on the Spartans Thursday down at Osseo High School. Kick-off is set for 7 p.m.