NEWTON – Osborne senior Cullen Grabast ran, threw and caught the football. He also served as the special teams returner, picked off a pass and punted – including twice one play.
His all-around effort, coupled with a superb defensive performance, led the Bulldogs to a 38-24 victory Saturday against St. Francis in the Eight-Man, Division I state championship game at Newton’s Fischer Field.
Grabast finished with 23 carries for 189 yards and two rushing scores of 19 and 33 yards. Both came in the fourth quarter and helped turn a 24-22 deficit into the final margin.
“Grabast decided that he wanted to win a state championship, and that’s all it boils down to,” Osborne coach Cullen Riner said.
Grabast has played quarterback the majority of the last month as senior Justin Burch has dealt with a high ankle sprain. He completed 9 of 12 passes for 68 yards and two scores.
Then, freshman Darrien Holloway, who has played well in the backfield since Grabast went to quarterback, went down with a concussion late in the third quarter. Burch had to enter the contest.
In the fourth, he handed the ball to Grabast on nine of 13 offensive plays and threw a 10-yard reception to Grabast.
“He is able probably to read the option better than me,” Grabast said of Burch. “Probably throw a little better than me, so it’s key that we had him back in there.”
Additionally, sophomore defensive back Kade Miller, bothered by a hamstring injury, bounced back from a controversial pass interference call early in the fourth quarter.
“That looked like about a 50-50 ball that they called him on for pass interference, and he didn’t let it affect him,” Riner said. “He came back, kept playing and got another opportunity.”
Later in the drive, he tallied a key pass breakup on a sideline pass on fourth down at the Osborne 20. With 3:36 left, Miller had his ninth interception of the fall and effectively sealed the win.
“They were going to try to go to the sticks,” Miller said of the breakup. “They told us that all week, and we just prepared for it, and I knew it was coming, so I just tried to get to it the best that I could.”
Osborne, a 4-5 team last year, finished 13-0 and bumped to 3-0 in state title games in school history.
“We played defense tonight,” Riner said. “That is an athletic team, a well-coached team, they are big, physical, and they’ve scored all year long, and we played very well defensively. That was probably the key to the game.”
The Bulldogs earned crowns in 1983 and 2013 when they finished 13-0. Osborne scored 764 points, breaking its own eight-man scoring record of 760 set in ’13. Top-ranked St. Francis finished 11-1 and lost in the first state title game in school annals.
“Cullen just outplayed everybody on our team,” St. Francis coach Rodney Yates said. “I think he just elevated his play and hats off to their team. They got off the ball well. They tackled, they executed their game plan offensively and defensively, and they are well-deserving of it, and my hats are off to that kid, he is a heck of a player.”
The Indians had significant edges in size up front, but Osborne wore down St. Francis. Last year, the Indians defeated Osborne, 68-22, in the regular season.
“We remembered the game last year, and that was a big part of it,” Grabast said. “Remembered losing to them, so had a chip on our shoulder to come prove that we were for real.”
Last week, the Indians delivered a 36-30 win versus Spearville that ended the Lancers’ 24-game winning streak in a game that came down to the final play. For state, St. Francis had multiple players hurt, including senior quarterback Quinton Cravens (strained hamstring).
Yates said sophomore Jordan Raby had a “softball-sized lump” on his ankle after the win. He recorded six touches for 23 yards. Junior Tate Busse (two catches, 34 yards) left the Spearville contest with concussion-like symptoms and dehydration.
“We just were banged up, and they took advantage of it,” Yates said.
Cravens didn’t play defense and finished 22 of 37 for 294 yards and two scores and two interceptions. Cravens rushed for TDs of one and 15 yards.
On the second one, with 8:36 left in the third quarter, Cravens was visibly hurting at the end of the run. He received a hug from Yates and a standing ovation by the St. Francis crowd following the play.
Overall, Cravens had minus-2 rushing yards after he’d averaged 72 a game entering Saturday. Senior Taylor Rogers finished with 13 carries for 54 yards after he recorded 1,047 yards this season.
“I don’t know if (Cravens) was even 70 percent,” Yates said. “He sat out all week of practice and really hurt us. We didn’t lose because of him. We just lost because we weren’t able to do the same things we’ve done all year with him, and again Osborne took advantage of it, and did a great job of executing their game plan, and I wish he would have been healthy. I wish things would have been a little different, but we didn’t care of business, and Osborne did.”
Osborne opened the game with a turnover on downs, and Grabast picked off St. Francis’ first play from scrimmage on a deep pass. Two plays later, junior Denton Schurr raced down the right side for a 56-yard score and an 8-0 lead.
“Our blocking, we worked all week on finishing at the whistle,” senior Derek Naegele said. “Head on the right side, block low, control the line, then we will get stuff done.”
On Osborne’s next possession, Osborne was forced to punt from its own 21.
Grabast, subbing for Burch at punter, had the punt blocked by senior Brock Waters. However, Grabast recovered the block and quickly punted the ball again. By rule, it’s a spot foul, and Osborne had another punt. This time, Burch punted and pinned St. Francis at its own 14-yard line.
“I just saw the ball back there, didn’t feel like running and getting tackled back there, so I just thought that I could punt it again, and obviously I couldn’t,” Grabast said. “So I guess it worked out in our favor. Justin got a good punt after that.”
Osborne led 22-6 at halftime after scoring twice in the second quarter. Grabast tossed a three-yard scoring pass to Schurr for a 16-0 lead. With two seconds remaining in the first half, Grabast, under pressure, found senior Quentin Morris in the end zone for a 14-yard TD pass.
It marked just Morris’ third catch and first receiving score this year.
St. Francis responded with three third quarter scores on an 18-yard pass from Cravens to Rogers, Cravens’ 15-yard run and a 50-yard pass from Cravens to Waters.
With 10:06 left, Grabast scored from 19 yards out to regain the lead at 30-24.
“About halfway through the third quarter, we were finally starting to be able to do our stuff,” Riner said. “Get downhill, run our trap game, veer option game and our sweep game, and, as the fourth quarter wore on, that’s what won it for us.”
On the next possession, Miller intercepted the ball, but the officials called him for a penalty. Eight plays later, he broke up the pass and forced a turnover on downs. Grabast responded with a 33-yard run when he ran left, cut back and made multiple Indians miss with 5:15 remaining.
“We just didn’t make big plays when we needed to, and Grabast made more plays than anybody else, and that’s why they are holding up the state championship,” Yates said.
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