Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Max DePrenger wasn’t going to be denied.

Plain and Simple.

Following back-to-back disappointing shutout losses the past two weeks and with the outcome of Friday’s non-district finale against Dubuque Hempstead hanging in the balance nothing was going to keep DePrenger out of the endzone.

It was that simple.

“I wasn’t going down,” DePrenger said. “I just wasn’t.”

DePrenger scored the go-ahead touchdown on an incredible 11-yard touchdown run with 6:05 left and City High (2-2) came up with a pair of late defensive stops to preserve a thrilling 23-22 win over Dubuque Hempstead (1-3) on Friday at a warm Frank Bates Field.

“We just banded together and kept fighting as a team,” DePrenger said. “I kept telling our guys to rise up and that’s what we did as a team.”

Sophomore quarterback Raph Hamilton threw for 184 yards and a touchdown and a City High defense scorched for 187 rushing yards held Hempstead to 65 yards on 25 second-half carries.

But this game was defined by DePrenger’s fourth-quarter drive to the end zone.

The 155-pound DePrenger took a shotgun hand off at the 11 and started to the left before cutting back to right and being stacked up by a pair of Hempstead defenders at the 5 yard line.

DePrenger just kept driving.

While attempting to spin away from a defender DePrenger ended up facing the opposite endzone.

“I spun and then I just felt the momentum push me from the front,” DePrenger said. “I just kept backing up, kept driving me legs, kept going all the way to the end zone.”
DePrenger had help covering the final five yards.

Senior lineman Jacob Murry pushed the pile. Then tight end Liam McComas, who set up the winning scoring with a bruising 25-yard catch and run got into the act.

Soon it was a pile of Little Hawks pushing DePrenger, backwards, toward the end zone.

“I was right behind him in that pile,” McComas said. “It was me, Murry and the whole line and I think Raph even jumped in there our QB. We just had a swarm of guys pushing him there.”

The 11-yard touchdown run and ensuing Ben Steve extra point put City High up 23-22 with 6:05 left.

It also gave the Little Hawks momentum they would never let get away.

“I saw all those guys just pushing him and he was at the 10 and I think that really showed what kind of a team we are and how hard we work for each other,” Hamilton said. “After that play, I knew we were going to win.”

City High still had to come up with two stops.

The Little Hawks forced a 3-and-out on the next possession and then stopped a last ditch effort with a sack of Dunne on 4th and 15 on the final Mustang possession.

“(City High coach) Larry Brown always said ‘48 minutes for a lifetime’ and we talked about that,” City High coach Dan Sabers said. “At halftime we said we are at 24 minutes, we had a good first half we busted our butts. Then we said 12 minutes and when they came off there were said ‘five minutes’ and boy we got it done.”

Steve hit a pair of first-half field goals and Malik Kimber hauled in the first City High touchdown pass of the season, a 63-yarder from Hamilton but Hempstead still led 14-13 at the half.

The Mustangs had a pair of 80-yard touchdown marches, one of 10 and one of 14 plays that were both all running plays.

Hempstead averaged better than six yards a carry while rushing for 187 yards in the first half.

“They ran all over us the first half but we came out the second half and we had to step up,” McComas said. “We did our jobs and it felt great.

City High took the lead 16-13 on a 41-yard field goal by Steve with 4:16 left in the third quarter but Hempstead answered with a 13-play, 86-yard touchdown drive capped by a 6-yard TD run by fullback Chase Sabers.

The Little Hawks had to punt on their next possession and trailed 22-16 midway through the fourth quarter when it got a break

Hempstead fumbled the snap on 4th and inches at their own 37 and City High took over 36 yards away from a potential game-winning touchdown.  

“We just said we had to finish,” Hamilton said. “We had been driving it all night but we had to finish that drive and we did.”

On the second play of the drive Hamilton hit McComas on a short out route and the senior tight end broke two tackles and rumbled to the 11 for a 25-yard gain.

DePrenger gave the Little Hawks the lead on the next play.

“We said let’s put our shoulders down and get this because we need this one,” McComas said. “We felt it, we felt the energy.”

Led by Sabers 119 yards rushing Hempstead held a 301-274 advantage in total yards but had three turnovers, two of which led to City High field goals.

“I’m just very proud of how we hung in there and kept battling,” Sabers said. “We had a great week, out kids bought in and we took care of the ball tonight and they struggled with that a little.”

                                    ICH                 DH

First downs                 11                    20

Rushes-yards             35-90             56-252            

Comp-Att-Int               9-12-0             3-14-3

Passing yards             184                 49

Total yards                    274               301

Punts-Avg.                   1-31               1-23

Fumbles-lost               4-0                   1-0

Penalties-yards          4-48                 3-20

City High                                   3  10  3  7  –  23

Dubuque Hempstead            7   7   0  8  –  22

ICH – Ben Steve 24 field goal

DH – Aidan Dunne 12 run (Joe Pins kick)

ICH – Malik Kimber 63 pass from Raph Hamilton (Steve kick)

ICH – Steve 37 field goal

DH – Dunne 1 run (Pins kick)

ICH – Steve 41 field goal

DH – Chase Sabers 6 run (Reed Snitker run)

ICH – Max DePrenger 11 run (Steve kick)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – ICH: Tonka Hickman 17-56, Max DePrenger 6-45, Malik Kimber 1-0, Raph Hamilton 10-(-4), Team 1-(-7). DH: Chase Sabers 27-119, Reed Snitker 9-75, Aidan Dunne 12-27, Trever Maiers 5-22, Keegan Trilk 1-8, Joey Vize 2-1.

PASSING – ICH: Raph Hamilton 9-12-0 184. DH: Aidan Dunne 3-14-3 49.

RECEIVING – ICH: Malik Kimber 3-110, Liam McComas 4-46, Max DePrenger 1-23, Kyle Hefley 1-5. DH: Tait Thoms 2-26, Chase Sabers 1-23.

 

 

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