West High pounds City 52-6 in Battle for the Boot
By Pat Harty
IOWA CITY – City High coach Dan Sabers said one final thing to the media on Friday before leaving Bates Field, and it came in the form of a question.
“I didn’t see any weaknesses, did you,” Sabers said.
Unfortunately, for Sabers, he wasn’t referring to his team, but rather rival West High.
The second-ranked Trojans scored on eight of nine possessions, including seven touchdowns, and rolled to a 52-6 victory over City High in the annual Battle for the Boot.
The 46-point rout ended West High's two-game losing streak against City High and was just the Trojans third victory over City High in the last 12 games.
“It feels really good,” said West High senior offensive lineman Jonathan Gannon. “I’ve never beaten City High in a game I’ve played in because freshman year I had a concussion and sophomore year I was on varsity and last year we lost.
“So it feels real good senior year to come out and win like we did here at City High.”
West High broke the game open by scoring 28 consecutive points in the second quarter. The Trojans led 38-0 at halftime and the second half started with a continuous clock, which goes into effect when a team leads by at least 35 points in the second half.
“It feels good; it’s always a goal,” West High defensive end Dillon Shephard said of earning the continuous clock. “It’s a fun feeling knowing that you’re up by that much and then you just continue to dominate.”
West High improved to 4-0 with the victory, while the Little Hawks fell to 1-3.
The Trojans shredded City High’s defense for 331 yards in the first half, including 204 rushing yards, while the Little Hawks were held to a minus-9 rushing yards in the first two quarters.
West High senior quarterback Evan Flitz is known more for his pin-point passing and he showed that strength on Friday with 152 passing yards.
But Flitz’s running also caused problems for the Little Hawks as he finished with 73 rushing yards on just five carries. His shortest run in the game covered 10 yards.
Flitz scored his team’s first touchdown in the second quarter on a 10-yard run with 10 minutes, 15 second left before halftime.
“It’s what we work on weekly, keeping people off balance,” said West High coach Garrett Hartwig.
Gannon helped pave the way on the ground with a dominant performance at left tackle. There were times in Friday’s game, especially in the second quarter, when West High ran almost exclusively behind Gannon to the left.
“Jonathan Gannon is an exceptional player,” Hartwig said. “He’s been a three-year starter in a lot of ways. He was hurt a little bit his sophomore year, but he did start varsity. And he was one of our best linemen last year.
“And now he’s the bell cow and a very cerebral player and very strong. He had a great offseason and we’re getting where we need to.”
West High got to end zone with relative ease, and did so behind a balanced offense that drew high praise from Sabers.
“First of all I tell (my players) that’s a very good West football team,” Sabers said. “I’ve been at this for a while and West has had some very good football teams and I think this one ranks right up there with some of their better teams.
“They’re just so diversified offensively with what they can do. And defensively, they’re just so aggressive. You see them numerous times with three, four and five guys to the football. So that’s a very good football team is the number one thing (I tell my players).
“But I honestly think we got better from last week. So we’re going to build off that.”
City High struggled to protect quarterback Brock Hunger, who spent most of the game trying to avoid West High’s pressure in the pocket and from the edges.
“There were some breakdowns, but they’re bigger than us up front and they’re very good, they’re aggressive and they get after it,” Sabers said of the West High defense. “We’ve got four juniors out there and four linemen under 200 pounds.
“We’ve got to get bigger and stronger.”
Flitz is used to being in the spotlight and was interviewed by multiple media members after Friday’s game, including on television.
But he was quick to share the praise with his teammates, particularly those on the offensive line, who make it a goal to have a continuous clock in every game.
“That’s their goal every week, they write it on our board in our locker room every week that we want continuous clock,” Flitz said. “And that means that we’re running the ball and they can’t stop our running game”.
West High kicker Lucas Karwal also impacted the game by making a 30-yard field goal in the first quarter and by making all six of his point-after kicks.
Karwell also excelled on kickoffs by repeatedly burying the Little Hawks deep in their own territory.
“They’ve just got a lot of weapons and that defense gets after you, too,” Sabers said. “That’s a balanced football team.
“And the kickoff guy, every one of those kicks, he placed it where they wanted it to go. That just makes it tough.”
City High avoided the shutout when Hunger score on a 4-yard run with 9:37 left in the fourth quarteer.
West High then scored one more touchdown on a 21-yard run by senior fullback Dylan Miene in the closing seconds.
ICW ICH
First Downs 22 13
Rushes-Yards 34-295 18-36
Comp-Att-Int 16-24-0 13-27-3
Passing Yards 164 162
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 1-0
Penalties-Yards 4-30 3-30
West High 10 28 7 7 – 52
City High 0 0 0 6 – 6
ICW – Jalen Gaudet 5 pass from Evan Flitz (LucasKarwall kick)
ICW – Lucas Karwal 30 FG
ICW – Evan Flitz 10 run (Karwal kick)
ICW – Cole Mabry 10 run (Karwal kick)
ICW – Dylan Miene 1 run (Karwal kick)
ICW – Dillon Doyle 4 pass from Flitz (Karwal kick)
ICW – Peter Breitbach 2 run (Karwal kick)
ICH – Bryce Hunger 4 run (kick failed)
ICW – Miene 21 run (Josh Jasek kick)
Individual statistics
RUSHING – West High Evan Flitz 5-73, Trumell Roberts 7-72, Andre White 8-67, Dylan Miene 4-32, Cole Mabry 2-24, Peter Breitbach 6-14, Dillon Doyle 1-6, Jalen Gaudet 1-5, Barry Mamadou 1-2. City High: Max DePrenger 3-16, Davonte Foster 5-10, Chris johnson 1-1.
PASSING West High: Evan Flitz 15-22-152, Noah Aanastad 1-2-12. City High: Brock hunger 13-26-162-2, Quincy Wells 1-2-12.
RECEIVING – West High: Traevis Buchanon 9-114, Austin Geasland 3-18, Dillon Doyle 1-13, Justin Thomas 1-12, Dylan Miene 1-3. City High: Zach Jones 8-93, Keyshawn Christian 1-38, Marquel Poole 1-13, Malik Kimber 1-5, Michael Shoemaker 1-8, Davote Foster 1-1.