Grand View to play for NAIA national football championship

Grand View advances past Morningside, will compete for NAIA football title

The Grand View football team knocked off Morningside this weekend and will play for the NAIA national championship. / Cody Scanlan/The Register / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

There is a dynasty in Des Moines, Iowa and it is called Grand View football.

The Vikings advanced to another NAIA championship with a 36-13 victory over Morningside in an all-Iowa semifinal this past weekend. They will now face Keiser on Saturday, Dec. 21 in Durham, N.C.

Plenty of former Iowa high school standouts helped Grand View in the win including quarterback Jackson Waring. The senior from Ankeny completed 13 of 20 passes for 220 yards and a touchdown, adding a team-high 83 yards rushing with another score.

Dalten Van Pelt, who shined at Van Meter, rushed nine times for 58 yards with three touchdowns while Tate Stine-Smith, a former ADM prep, had 43 yards rushing. 

Waring’s top target, Aisea Toki from Le Mars, hauled in six passes for 145 yards with a touchdown. Corey Phillips from Ames, Zane Johnson of West Des Moines and Stine-Smith each had two catches, while Jordan Kumm from Ankeny, had one. 

The Viking defense was paced by Davenport natives John Argo and Cade Sheedy, who had 11 and 10 tackles. Daviere Jones of Des Moines had an interception.

Morningside’s leading rusher was Max Hough, a former standout at GTRA, who had 58 yards on the ground and caught four passes for 34 more. Griffin Kraft from North Liberty caught a touchdown pass. 

Colton Dreith from Storm Lake led the defense with eight tackles, including one for loss. Spencer’s Isaac Pingel had three tackles for loss among his seven stops.

Grand View has reached the title round three times in program history and twice over the last four years. They are 13-0 this year and have gone 51-3 over the last four years with two of those losses coming to Morningside in 2021 and Keiser in 2022.