ROCK RAPIDS, Iowa — Zach Lutmer wanted to go out on a high note, and he accomplished just that while at Central Lyon High School.
The Journal's 2023 Siouxland Male Athlete of the Year helped lead the Lions to state championships in football and basketball, the first Iowa high school to do so in both sports since 2006. (Central Lyon shares its football program with neighboring George Little-Rock.)
"Winning two state titles will definitely be my favorite memories," the senior said. "I did it with my best friends, and not a lot of people get to win one, so to win two in back-to-back sports is something I'll never forget."
The son of Mark and Dana Lutmer, Zach was on the varsity football roster as a 5-foot-10, 145-pound freshman, but didn't see much of the field. But he graduated as a 6-foot-2, 195-pound force, earning a full-ride scholarship from Iowa, where he's playing defensive back for the Hawkeyes this fall.
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"CL/GLR has always had a strong winning tradition," Central Lyon/George-Little Rock football coach Curtis Eben said. "Zach has just added to that level of tradition. He will walk out of high school as one of the most decorative athletes of all time. Zach is just a great kid on the field and off the field and many kids look up to him."
Signs of early promise
Even from a young age, Lutmer stood out.
"Zach has always been very athletic," Eban said. "You noticed him in elementary school in gym class. He has always stuck out."
"My sophomore year, I focused on playing quarterback, I didn't play defense the first few games," Lutmer said. "But I got in a little bit, and starting junior year, I knew I'd be playing both ways."
Last fall, Lutmer led the Lions to 13-0 undefeated season, capped by a 10-6 victory over second-ranked Williamsburg in the championship game. Clinging to a 3-0 halftime lead, the senior quarterback engineered a 15-play, 90-yard drive to open the third quarter, culminating with a 30-yard TD throw to fellow Iowa recruit Reece Vander Zee.
Lutmer was named captain of the Iowa Print Sports Writers Association Class 2A All-State team after going for over 1,300 passing yards with a 67 percent completion rate on 112 attempts with 16 touchdowns and two interceptions while adding over 1,500 rushing yards and 22 scores on the ground plus 45 tackles (27 solo) on defense with three interceptions.
A three-time Offensive Player of the Year in his district, Lutmer he passed for over 1,000 yards and rushed for over 1,000 more in three different seasons while tallying 99 total touchdowns for his career.
Small step back, big leap forwardÂ
His grand total of 4,417 rushing yards gained stands as a school record. Over his final three seasons, Central Lyon/George-Little Rock went a combined 31-5, made it to state all three times with a runner-up effort in 2020 and championship in 2022. The team also went to state when he was a freshman.
On defense, he recorded over 150 career tackles and 11 interceptions for the Lions.
"My sophomore year, we lost in the (state) championship, and then kind of took a step back my junior year," Lutmer said. "But to get back to state and win it was a really great feeling and experience.
"Same thing in basketball, we lost in the state title game when I was a junior, but we made it back and closed it out when I was a senior.
"We took big steps in the offseason, I think between my sophomore and junior years, I put on maybe 25 pounds."
Meeting Iowa coach Kirk FerentzÂ
Lutmer also qualified for the 2A state track and field meet several times over and was a first-team all-district baseball player until he decided to hang up the baseball cleats for good as a senior in order to get a head start on the fall camp with Iowa.
"They sent some letters and stuff when I was a sophomore," he said of the Big Ten school. "Junior year, I didn't hear much but I went on a visit there, then track came around and (Iowa) came to a few track meets.
"After a game day visit there, they called and they put Coach Ferentz on the phone. He offered me a full ride and that's all I needed to hear, I committed the next day."
After finishing high school with a near-4.0 GPA, he plans on majoring in exercise science at Iowa.
"The thing that stood out for me with Zach this spring in track was his commitment to the team and his teammates," Central Lyon track and field coach Travis Schipper said. "Zach struggled with some foot problems after basketball and that gave him a late start for track. It would have been easy for Zach to just shut it down completely and get ready for the Iowa workouts this summer. Even though he had very little time to get ready for the conference and district meet, he came back and competed and helped a couple of relays make it down to the state meet.Â
"I honestly feel if he had a healthy spring, he would have been in the finals of the 100 and our relays would have been just that much stronger."
State title on the hardcourt
Lutmer led the basketball team in scoring all four years he was at Central Lyon, scoring over 500 points this past winter for the Class 2A state champions.
"My sophomore year, I really figured out how to score the ball," Lutmer said. "But I might not have been much of a leader then. That next year we developed some more scorers and I really felt like I just needed to make the right play instead of just score.
"It was pretty cool to get to have the guys around me that I did, and I had a great group of guys that came before me that showed me the way."
Paired with his all-state teammates Andrew Austin and Vander Zee, the Lions went 24-1 this season en route to capturing the program's first state title.
In the decisive fourth quarter of the state championship game against Western Christian, Lutmer scored nine points as the 6-foot-1-inch guard penetrated the lane for jumpers and layups and also hit from outside.
As the period began, with Central Lyon ahead by six, head coach Ben Gerleman called a set play for Lutmer, who rubbed off a screen to get open, took a pass from Vander Zee and then drained a shot from behind the three-point arch, increasing the lead to nine.
"They came out in a zone and we ran a play that we literally put in the first day of practice. We really hadn't run it all year," Gerleman said. "We executed it, got the ball where it needed to go on time, kicked it out and he just drilled it."
Feeling he hadn't played up to his ability in the Lions' narrow one-point win over Pella Christian in the semifinals, Zutmer vowed to make amends in the championship game.Â
"After the last game, I told myself that I'm not going to let that happen again," Lutmer said. "I'm going to be more aggressive. The fourth quarter is where big players make big-time plays and have big moments. And that's what I tried to do. I tried to be aggressive and get everyone else involved too."
The senior finished with a team-high 25 points, seven rebounds and six assists in the title game, winning a spot on the All-Tournament team with Vander Zee and Austin, who was named the captain.
Lutmer, who repeated as a first-team, all-state selection, finished his career with over 1,800 points and around 500 assists and rebounds each.Â
"You want to leave a legacy behind," he said. "And I think what me and my teammates were able to do over the last four seasons will be something that will be remembered for a long time. It speaks volumes about the athletes we have in our community.'