By Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – City High returned to a familiar spot atop the Class 3A rankings last week and retained the top spot this week.

The Little Hawks aren’t putting too much stock in the April rankings but looked every bit like a top-ranked on Tuesday afternoon.

City High scored twice in the opening eight minutes and never let up in a 10-1 win over Cedar Rapids Jefferson (0-2) in a Mississippi Valley Conference contest at City High.

 “We see the rankings but we are more concerned with how we are playing and if you are playing like a team that deserves to be in that kind of spot because it is a responsibility so we want to be playing as though we are that kind of team,” City High senior Rasmus Schlutter said. “A team that deserves to be at the top, a team that can be at the top and a team that has the potential to stay at the top.”  

Jonah Dancer scored three goals and Schlutter had two as top-ranked City High (4-0) won its fourth straight to open the season and improved to 2-0 in MVC play.

Cameron Chavez, Tesmegen Schumm, Lucas Ribble and Ethan Teduits all added goals as City High scored at least eight goals for the second consecutive match.  

“We have a lot of confidence in putting stuff away right now,” Dancer said. “I think that confidence helps us with putting up a lot of goals like we did today.”

City High was a regular in the top spot of the 3A rankings last season when it won 20 straight games on its way to a berth in the Class 2A title game.

The Little Hawks have been equally impressive this season.

City High has posted three consecutive shutouts and its four wins have come by a combined score of 21-1.

Long-time City High coach Jose Fajardo has never shied away from the number one ranking but knows his team can’t get swept up in it.

“This is not something I say because it’s something I am supposed to say, I say it because it’s the truth, we are working on staying humble because we are not talented enough to not be humble,” Fajardo said. “We can’t forget where we are coming from because there are so many other programs with more success than us. We need to remain like that and the moment that we lose that it will probably be a bad day for us.”

Tuesday was a good day for the Little Hawks.   

Last season Jefferson and City High played 86 scoreless minutes in Cedar Rapids before the Little Hawks escaped with a 1-0 overtime win.

There was no drama this time around.

Schlutter and Chavez scored goal in the opening eight minutes and Dancer scored three times in a span of less than 10 minutes to give City High a 5-0 lead less than 26 minutes into the match.

“Last year we went to overtime with these guys and obviously it was a different team for us and different teams for them but that was a whole different scene,” Schlutter said. “We had like 30 shots and only the very last one went in so it’s much better to get these games put away.”

Dancer made it 3-0 with a shot from just inside the box in the 17th minute and tacked on two more goals less than three minutes apart on penalty kicks following J-Hawk fouls in the box.

“A lot of times we have trouble opening the game up,” Dancer said. “To put a couple of goals away early like that definitely makes us a lot more comfortable on the field to just play more freely and take players on more.

Jefferson got on the board when Cole Ingalls put away a rebound shot in the 23rd minute to cut the lead to 5-1.

The second half was all City High.

Schlutter wove through defenders for a goal in the 47th minute and a goal by TeDuits in the 52nd minute made it 8-1.

“I think we’ve just gotten better at working as a team,” TeDuits said. “We are playing as a team right now and you can see the results.”