Buffalo Center, Ia (Northwest Iowa Now) – GTRA hit the road to open up the 2026 Football season for a Week 0 matchup against North Iowa.
Both GTRA and North Iowa had a team in their District not field a team for this season, leaving a spot open on the schedule for the bordering Districts to cross-over.
After each team traded punts to open up the game, the Titans broke the scoreboard first as Sophomore Quarterback Brooks Hanson connected with Brady Harris on a 64 yard Touchdown pass. A succesful 2-point conversion made it 8-0 in favor of GTRA.
Late in the 1st quarter, North Iowa was able to tie the game after a 6 play drive, capped off by a 7 yard Touchdown run by Quarterback Brayden Gray. Gray also ran in the 2-point to tie the game at 8.
Neither team was able to score in the second quarter, and it remained tied going in to the half.
GTRA re-took the lead with 7:09 left in the 3rd quarter on another deep Touchdown pass up the right seam from Hanson to Harris for 50 yards. A succesful 2-point made it 16-8.
North Iowa responded well with the longest drive of the evening, taking 11 plays in just over 6 minutes. It would be a 15-yard Touchdown pass thrown by Axel Beenken, who came into the Quarterback position after a temporary injury to Gray, as the Sophomore connected with Kevin Hagen in the endzone. The Bison tied the game with the 2-point conversion at 16.
GTRA scored with just under 4 minutes left in the game when Landen Dietrich powered it in from 2-yards out after a 24-yard pass connection from Hason to Tate Jensen. The 2-point conversion was unsuccessful, and GTRA looked to hold on to the 22-16 lead with 3:54 to play.
The game ended in some chaos. North Iowa turned it over on downs with 1:32 left to play, but GTRA fumbled on the Bison 10 yard line just 25 seconds later, giving the Bison another chance to tie with 1:17 left in the game.
North Iowa was able to get a first down, but after a few incomplete passes, The Bison ran a halfback draw on 3rd and long, then spiked the football on 4th down to turn it back over to GTRA. The Titans then knealed out the clock, and survived with a 22-16 win.
The Titans had 293 yards of total offense on teh night. Brooks Hanson completed 18 of his 29 passes for 244 yards and a pair of Touchdowns with no interceptions. Brady Harris caught two passes, but both were for big Touchdowns as he finished with 114 receiving yards.
GTRA begins their 2026 campaign 1-0, and prepare for West Bend-Mallard on the road next week. North Iowa falls to 0-1 and will continue non-district play next week against Harris-Lake Park on the road.
