Susan Harman

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Davenport Central overwhelmed City High Friday, 63-28, with a combination of speed, size on the line and friendly field position.

It was a game of lightning-fast scores, big plays and more than its share of penalties and other mistakes.

Central led 21-8 before four minutes had elapsed on only seven plays from scrimmage. In the second half the teams exchanged kickoff returns for touchdowns on back-to-back plays.

“That was one of the stranger (games) I’ve been around,” City High coach Dan Sabers said.

Central likely took a big step toward playoff qualification with the victory.

The Blue Devils are 4-2 overall and 2-0 in a district that appears to be dominated by Bettendorf. City High fell to 2-4, 1-1 and still has to play the Bulldogs.

With only two playoff spots available, the Little Hawks will need some help to snag the second spot.

“It was a huge game,” Central coach Ben Sacco said. “I told our guys it was the biggest game we’ve played in 20, 25 years. It’s a chance to make the playoffs with only 16 teams (in class 4A). We have to win this game to get there.”

The Blue Devils’ took advantage of great field position all night. Their first-half scoring drives were 49, 52, 50 and 50 yards.

They scored their other TD on a kickoff by forcing and recovering Zach Jones’ fumble in the end zone. Their second-half scoring drives were 58, 21, 40 and 68 yards plus the kickoff return for a TD by Chris Murphy.

Central running back Jatoviay Hill rushed for 223 yards, 153 of which came in the second half, and four touchdowns.

“After last week’s game we knew they were going to try to load the box and try to stop (Hill),” Sacco said. “But we have a lot of other weapons out there.

“(Speed) has been one of our advantages all year. All of our guys can run and fly to the ball. It makes it hard for defenses to defend.”

Central rushed for 352 yards total and passed for another 133.

The Blue Devils committed 14 penalties and lost two fumbles but still managed to trigger the continuous clock in the fourth quarter.

City High struggled to run the ball against a defense that was massive up front and quick everywhere else.

Junior Diontrel Wommack gave City High fits with his quickness off the end. The Little Hawks rushed 23 times for 31 yards. They were also down 35-8 one play into the second quarter, so their options became more limited.

“We sure helped them to start the game, didn’t we?” Sabers said. “It’s a little bit about who we are. They’ve got a good team. Their size. They play well together as a team. I think they are serious contenders.

“We dropped some balls. They’ve got some big guys up front and we had a hard time moving them, so they were able to get five or six in the box and get away with it. They’re just better than us.”

Jones had a big night with 12 receptions for 196 yards and two TDs. He also ran back a kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown in the second half.

“You put him in situations, and he’ll compete,” Sabers said.

Quarterback Bryce Hunger threw for 232 yards, but it wasn’t nearly enough.

“We just have a hard time getting 11 players to do what they need to do at the same time,” Sabers said.

                                   DC                  ICH

First downs                15                    13

Rushing-yards            38-352             23-31

Comp-att-int                7-11-0              19-39-1

Passing-yards            133                  232

Punts-avg.                  0                      4-32

Fumbles-lost              5-2                    1-1

Penalties-yards          14-114              8-75

Davenport Central    28   7   21  7  –  63

Iowa City High           8    0   14  6  –  28

DC – Brendan Gogulich 19 pass from Adin DeLaRosa (Luke Hummel kick)

DC – Quentin McDonald recovers fumble in end zone (Hummel kick)

ICH – Zach Jones 65 pass from Bryce Hunger (Davonte Foster run)

DC – Jatoviay Hill 52 run (Hummel kick)

DC – Hill 5 run (Hummel kick)

DC – Hill 2 run (Hummel kick)

DC – LeVon Bellemy 45 run (Hummel kick)

DC – Hill 1 run (Hummel kick)

ICH – Jones 93 kickoff return (pass)

DC – Chris Murphy 85 kickoff return (Hummel kick)

ICH – Marquel Poole 9 pass from Hunger (pass failed)

DC – DeLaRosa 6 run (Hummel kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – DC: Jatoviay Hill 22-223, LeVon Bellemy 3-68, Adin DeLaRosa 5-43, Chris Murphy 2-25, Justus Ducksworth 1-7, Lanfuya Kargbo 1-5, Nate Tyson 1-1, Dezmund Craig 2-(-1), Team 1-(-19). ICH: Davonte Foster 5-17, Bryce Hunger 12-16, Quincy Wells 1-4, Zach Jones 2-1, Max DePrenger 2-(-2), Michael Santoro 1-(-5).

PASSING – DC: Adin DeLaRosa 7-11-0-133. ICH: Bryce Hunger 19-37-1-232, Quincy Wells 0-2-0 0.

RECEIVING – DC: Brendan Gogulich 4-96, Nate Tyson 1-24, Israel Taylor 1-11, Chris Murphy 1-2. ICH: Zach Jones 12-196, Marquel Poole 4-24, Davonte Foster 2-15, Malik Kimber 1-(-3).