Back at QB, Carver Blietz-Bentien has MFL MarMac in the Class 1A state football championship game

CEDAR RAPIDS — The answer was obvious.

When MFL MarMac needed a quarterback to begin this prep football season, the decision was made to go with the guy who used to be the quarterback. That’d be Carver Blietz-Bentien.

“It was a no-brainer,” said MFL MarMac head coach Dan Anderson. “Not even any thought that Carver was going back to quarterback.”

Blietz-Bentien was the Bulldogs’ starting signal caller as a sophomore, helping them to the Class 1A playoffs and a second-round upset of undefeated Iowa City Regina. So you knew he’d be all right, even though he was a fullback for the 2022 Bulldogs.

He was needed to go back under center because Zach Driscoll, who was the MFL MarMac starting QB last season decided to transfer to Decorah over the summer and concentrate on playing basketball. Fourth-ranked MFL MarMac (11-1) plays No. 1 Grundy Center (12-0) in Thursday afternoon’s Class 1A state championship game at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls (4 p.m. opening kickoff).

“It wasn’t as big a transition as I thought it would be,” Blietz-Bentien said. “Going from fullback to quarterback, I thought it was going to be a whole new universe, honestly. But I’d already done it for a year, my sophomore year, and pretty much my entire career before that. So I felt comfortable with it, my coaches did a really nice job of incorporating the quarterback position in the run game as much as possible. That made the transition super easy.

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“We switched up our pass game and everything a little bit to make it easier for me and help me with my strengths and what I do best. The coaches just made that transition a lot easier on me.”

What Blietz-Bentien does best is use his toughness and size to run. He’s 6-foot-2 and 210 pounds and directs MFL MarMac’s Wing-T offense efficiently. He has a strong throwing arm, though he doesn’t use it too much, completing 42 of 96 passes this season for 550 yards and 11 touchdowns, to just five interceptions.

But he has rushed for 646 yards and 10 TDs, effective at conducting the triple option and taking it himself up the middle for yards.

“He’s a great leader and tough as nails. He’s a linebacker that plays quarterback, you know what I mean?” Anderson said. “He can run the triple option, has a strong arm. He is going to make his heyday running the ball because he hits people so hard.”

Indeed the biggest adjustment Blietz-Bentien said he has had to make this season is when to be a calm leader and when to be that hyped-up guy on defense that wants to hit the living crap out of an opposing ball carrier or quarterback. He is his team’s second-leading tackler.

Blietz-Bentien made two huge plays defensively from his linebacker position in the third quarter of last week’s Class 1A semifinal win over Underwood. He blitzed and put pressure on Underwood quarterback Garrett Luett, forcing a hurried throw that teammate Bryce Radloff intercepted and returned for a huge touchdown.

Then later in the quarter, he blitzed again and got a clean shot on Luett that caused a fumble MFL MarMac recovered and eventually converted into another important touchdown.

“He just plays with such effort all the time,” Anderson said. “When you’ve got a 210-pound kid who is that strong and who has that motor, he goes through a lot of blocks.”

“Definitely at the beginning of the year it was tough, because I had to be the cool, calm, collected guy in the huddle,” Blietz-Bentien said. “Then I had to go and be that crazy guy on defense as a linebacker blowing stuff up. But as the year went on, I’ve kind of figured out how to keep it calm on the offensive side and go be that guy on defense.”

He’ll need to be really good on both sides of the football Thursday. Grundy Center was last year’s Class A state champion.

This is the first finals appearance for MFL MarMac, which lost in the quarterfinal round the previous four years.

“Honestly, I just feel like this has been a long time coming,” Blietz-Bentien said. “Especially with me and my fellow seniors, we’ve put in countless hours since we have been in fifth and sixth grade. Hours in the weight room, with each other, building that bond.”

Comments: (319)-398-8258, jeff.johnson@thegazette.com