Messenger photo by Britt Kudla: Chase Flaherty of Humboldt cuts upfield during the Class 3A semifinal round against Mount Vernon last Saturday night in Cedar Falls.

CEDAR FALLS — Derrick Elman hasn’t stopped smiling since his Humboldt football team locked up a spot in the Class 3A state championship game here last Saturday night.

And it’s not just because Elman and the Wildcats will now be playing for the title on Friday at the UNI-Dome versus Dubuque Wahlert.

Humboldt (11-1 overall) and the Golden Eagles (12-0) kick things off at 1 p.m.

For Elman, seeing the support from the entire community back home has been inspiring to both him and his program.

“It really has been amazing,” Elman said between pep rallies at the schools on Thursday. “This community is so good about helping our schools with any and all events. It just brings a lot of pride when you have something big like this taking place.

“The amount of fans we had in the stand last Saturday and the support we’ve had in town this week has been awesome. There is just so much energy from local businesses and peopel doing things for the kids.”

Elman, in his seventh season leading the program, has guided the Wildcats to the state semifinals three times. This is the first title game appearance, though, since Humboldt won it all in 2006.

“What really makes me the most proud as a coach is talking to the people in town while getting a coffee or at a restaurant and hearing them describe the way our football players act,” Elman said. “I just take a ton of pride in that by getting to be a small part of it with this group.

“To impact them in some way is just really cool. The kids mean a lot to the community, and they do things the right way. Humboldt is a blue-collar town, and we are a blue-collar football team.”

The Wildcats haven’t lost since a 26-17 defeat in Week 4 to North Polk, which won the 4A state title Thursday night. Humboldt has defeated Clear Lake, Solon and Mount Vernon during its streak, as the Wildcats enter on a seven-game run overall.

Senior Coen Matson, who helped the team reach the semifinals in 2022 as a sophomore after his brother, current Iowa State University safety Caden Matson, got them there to the semis in 2021, has thrown for 2,457 yards with 27 touchdowns. He also has 325 yards on the ground and five more scores.

Keegan Groat, also a senior, has 34 receptions for a team-high 775 yards with 10 touchdowns, with junior Chase Flaherty adding a team-leading 52 receptions for 744 yards and nine scores.

Valley Davis has 28 catches for 467 yards and six TDs, while Mason Van Pelt has 25 receptions for 247 yards and a score.

The ground game takes a by-committee approach, with Cash McIntire running for 481 and Jaxson Kirchhoff adding 341. The sophomores have a combined eight touchdowns on the year.

Wahlert is in the title round for the first time in program history. The Golden Eagles had won more than nine games just once since 2008, going 5-4 last year after a 9-3 season in 2022.

Michael Bormann is the main threat on offense for Wahlert, rushing 141 times for 1,097 yards and 12 TDs. As a squad, the Golden Eagles have 3,079 yards on the ground, averaging almost eight yards per carry.

Drew Reilly has thrown for 1,068 yards, completing 67 percent of his passes with 11 touchdowns. Tom Scherr, who has 588 yards on the ground and 10 TDs, also has 470 in the passing game with seven more scores.

“They are just a very solid overall football team,” Elman said. “But we’ve played — and beat — very good football teams all year, so why not one more?”