Grant Rohach stood in circle of close family members and friends, nearly 40 minutes after Saturday’s Iowa Barnstormers game came to an end.
Rohach had just lead the Iowa Barnstormers to a 41-25 win over the Nebraska Danger in his debut for the team, throwing for four touchdowns and running for another.
Among those in the circle was his dad, Jerry.
When Jerry turned to leave, Grant tossed him a game ball.
“That’s yours,” he said.
Grant Rohach leads Barnstormers to win in IFL Debut
Rohach had kept the ball from his rushing touchdown that trimmed the Iowa defecit to one point going into halftime. He finished with 138 yards through the air along with his five combined touchdowns.
Rohach’s debut ranked up there with a number of former Barnstormer quarterback debuts, at least to the fans’ demands.
As he emerged from the tunnel, Rohach was greeted with a wave of cheers and group of autograph seekers. It was similar to that of Travis Partridge or Brian Villanueva’s first games at the well.
“[I saw] a bunch [of Iowa State fans],” Rohach said. “Its awesome. They’ve got the best fan base in the country and its good to know they still remember me as a Cyclone. It’s a testament to the state of Iowa and how dedicated they are.”
Rohach’s game started off about as well as he could have hoped for. After taking the snap on his own five yard-line, he threw one deep to Brady Roland, good for a 45-yard touchdown.
“That’s what you’ve got to do to win games,” Rohach said. “It was nice to get that out of the way. I shook [some nerves] probably in the middle of the first quarter. It’s been a while since I played in a live scenario, but it was a great time.”
Saturday’s game was the first full game that Rohach has played since he was with Buffalo in 2015.
“It’s definitely a different style, theres different things that you need to do that you wouldn’t normally need to do in outdoor, but once you get the hang of it, its not much different.”
Coming into it, Iowa had given up its previous game to Nebraska, but Saturday the script was flipped.
“We definitely came to practice [this week],” nose-guard D’Vonn Brown said. “We just made a lot of adjustments.”
Brown moved over from defensive end to nose-guard for Saturday’s game, and it showed.
Nebraska’s center had a number of off snaps that went over his quarterback’s head, due to the pressure Brown was bringing.
It helped Iowa hold Nebraska to zero second half points.
“We made sure we took care of the mistakes,” head coach Dixie Wooten said. “We played some great football, and the defense stood out.”
The Barnstormers will return to the field after a bye week on April 28, when they take on the Green Bay Blizzard at Wells Fargo Arena.
