Richard Podhajsky

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – The rain held off. The City High ground game did not.

The Little Hawks (2-3) got 103 yards rushing from Tonka Hickman and they slipped past Muscatine 10-7 to open district play at Bates Field on Friday.

Hickman led a three-headed rushing attack for City High, which piled up 225 yards on 53 carries as they played ball control on a damp night.

“I don't know what the time of possession would be but it had to be strongly in our favor and that’s what we need to do,” City High coach Dan Sabers said. “We don't have that many players so that’s why we take our time, get our guys rested. Some of those guys play the whole game.

“I mean, that last drive was nine minutes and what’d we go, 60, 65 yards? Something like that. So that's beautiful.”

City High milked away the clock in the fourth quarter, answering Muscatine’s only score of the game with 10:35 to play by holding the ensuing possession for what turned out to be the final drive of the game.

That included a pair of big fourth down conversations, including Hickman diving for two yards on a fourth-and-one near midfield with 5:48 to play.

“Excitement,” Hickman said of his reaction both to getting the ball in that situation and getting the first down. “Excitement’s the only the answer I can answer that with. Excitement.”

They’d then put the game away on a fourth-and-ten when quarterback Raph Hamilton, who would finish only 3-of-9 for 26 yards passing but rushed for 76 yards, connected with sophomore receiver Gable Mitchell for 15 yards and a first down with less than two minutes left.

“All week we practiced on turf so adjusting to the grass was big,” Mitchell said of the damp weather conditions. “But it made it tough for them, too, so it was just whoever competed the best.”

Hickman got City High on the board first, scooting in from nine yards out with 3:34 to play in the first quarter to cap a 62-yard drive which started after a fumble recovery on a bad shotgun snap by Muscatine (1-4).

That would turn out to be the only turnover of the game.

“We worked on it at practice, you know, we wet the ball a little bit,” Hickman said of their preparation for expected stormy conditions. “We tried to do some like running drills with it seeing if someone could strip the ball. We just work a lot on ball security in practice.”

The City High defense then tightened up, forcing a punt on the ensuing drive.

That led to a Little Hawk drive down to the five yard line and an apparent Hamilton touchdown plunge, but that score was eliminated on a holding penalty.

Three plays later Sila Lulinda knocked down a 31-yard field goal.

On the game, City held Muscatine running back Tim Nimely, who came in averaging 105 yards per game, to just 75 yards rushing.

The Little Hawks were the benefactors of a pair of bad snaps by the Muskies at the City High 13 yard line, the first of which resulted in a turnover and the second forced Muscatine into a field goal attempt which fell short when kicker Rory Smock slipped on the wet grass.

“We needed it,” Sabers said of the district win. “We were really disappointed with ourselves last week and so we told them ‘Hey, we’re gonna get after it and we’re going to take care of Bates Field. And we were able to get that done and it’s very important to us, there’s no question.”

The Little Hawks travel to Davenport North next week for a Thursday night game at Brady Street Stadium.

                                  MUS             ICH
First downs               11                 15

Rushes-yards           23-150       53-225

Passing yards           58                 26

Total yards                208               251

Comp-Att-Int             5-10-0          3-9-0

Punts-avg.               2-29.0          2-42.5

Fumbles-lost            1-1                0-0

Penalties-yards        3-20             6-50

Muscatine   0  0   0  7  –  7

City High      7  3   0  0  –  10

ICH – Tonka Hickman 9 run (Sila Lulinda kick)

ICH – Lulinda 31 yard field goal

MUS – Tim Nimely 10 run (Rory Smock kick)

Individual statistics

RUSHING – MUS: Tim Nimely 14-75, Mentor Cooper 2-42, Jake Draves 7-40, Eli Gaye 1-(-7). ICH: Tonka Hickman 22-103, Raph Hamilton 19-76, Sila Lulinda 9-46, Joe Bacon 1-2, Team 1-(-2).

PASSING – MUS: Jake Draves 5-10-0, 58. ICH: Hamilton 3-9-0 26

RECEIVING – MUS: Eli Gaye 2-28, Zach Hardy 3-30. ICH: Gable Mitchell 2-22, Kolby Kucera 1-4.

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