Douglas Miles

Your Prep Sports

BETTENDORF – If City High was to keep its unbeaten record intact, it would have to solve the Pleasant Valley puzzle.

The second-ranked Little Hawks – the Class 5A leaders in scoring defense entering Friday – were tasked with stopping the PV triple-option offense, an attack most teams don’t see all season.

Consider it a lesson learned, both difficult and painful.

“You have got to be really consistent, you have got to be really detailed in what you are doing and you have to be patient,” first-year City High Coach Mitchell Moore said after the Little Hawks surrendered 312 rushing yards and 17 unanswered second-half points and lost their District 4 prep football game, 31-14, Friday night at Pleasant Valley High School. “We weren’t very patient tonight. I didn’t think we came with a lot of energy. It was probably the most disappointing part for me.”

City High (6-1, 2-1 District 4) managed to force a PV punt on the first offensive possession of the game, which lasted nine plays.

The Little Hawks’ offense immediately capitalized when sophomore quarterback Drew Larson sprinted 54 yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead a little more than eight minutes into the game.

PV (5-2, 3-0) resumed its punishing ground attack by posting a pair of second-quarter touchdown drives.

The marches covered 15 and eight plays, respectively, and burned over nine minutes of game clock.

“Everybody is assigned to a specific key,” Moore said. “And if you don’t read your key and try to do someone else’s job, that is what happens. Boy, you could tell these guys have been running this for a long time. They do a great job at it and they are a well-coached football team.”

Faced with the reality of a limited number of offensive possessions, City High evened the score at 14-14 when Larson connected with senior tailback Jamari Newson for an 81-yard score with 4:05 left until halftime.

“(I saw) an open field,” Newson said. “A chance to get one for the team.”

The City High defense managed to bow up on PV’s last possession of consequence before halftime, which gave the ball back to its offense at the 50-yard-line.

The Little Hawks appeared poised to break the 14-14 stalemate heading into halftime when they drove to the PV 12-yard-line, but the surge stalled and the half ended with a City High missed field goal.

The second half was textbook Pleasant Valley.

The Spartans outscored the Little Hawks in the second half, 17-0, with a trio of scoring drives that spanned seven plays, then eight, then 15.

Pleasant Valley junior quarterback Caden McDermott, who was thrust under center from his customary tailback position when senior quarterback Barrett Lindmark broke his collarbone earlier this season, ran the ball a whopping 37 times for 149 yards and two touchdowns.

He attempted one pass, an eight-yard score to senior Ryan Groenenboom.

“We didn’t turn the ball over,” McDermott said. “We didn’t have many mistakes besides one or two penalties and I think that is what helped us. Mistakes have killed us all year.”

The City High offense failed to find any footing in any of its four second-half offensive possessions.

The Little Hawks gained a total of nine yards and punted the first two times they had the ball in the second half, then were stopped on fourth down and turned the ball over on its last two drives.

“We had six false starts,” Moore said. “I don’t think we had six false starts all year. So was that an anxious thing? Was that a trying to do too much thing? I am not quite sure. We will have to watch the film. Certainly, that wasn’t how we played all year.”

Both teams had 320 yards of total offense, but PV nearly doubled City High in number of offensive plays.

PV sophomore fullback Tyge Lyon added 84 yards via 17 rush attempts and junior tailback Makhi Wilson posted 70 yards in 10 carries for the Spartans, which visit Dubuque Senior next Friday.

Larson threw for 170 yards and ran for a team-high 50, while Newson caught three passes for 94 yards for City High, which will host Davenport West next Friday in the final regular season game of the season at Bates Field.

“Bounce back,” Newson said. “Just come back, ready to play heading into the playoffs. Just play well the rest of the way. Take this as a lesson and come back even better.”

                                   ICH                PV

First Downs                10                    21

Rushes-yards              23-109             67-312

Comp-Att-Int              10-16-1           1-1-0

Passing yards              211                  8

Total yards                  320                  320

Punts-avg.                   4-29                 1-20

Fumbles-lost               0-0                   0-0

Penalties-yards           7-53                 4-45

Iowa City High            7   7   0   0  –  14

Pleasant Valley          0  14 10  7  –  31

ICH – Drew Larson 54 run (Kongalo Mwenemkamba kick)

PV – Caden McDermott 1 run (Carter Spangler kick)

PV – Ryan Groenenboom 8 pass from Caden McDermott (Carter Spangler kick)

ICH – Jamari Newson 81 pass from Drew Larson (Kongalo Mwenemkamba kick)

PV – FG Carter Spangler 36

PV – Rusty VanWetzinga 3 run (Carter Spangler kick)

PV – Caden McDermott 2 run (Carter Spangler kick)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – City High: Joey Bouska 3-15, Drew Larson 4-50, Darren Richardson 6-22, Ronnie Major 9-15, Jamari Newson 1-7. Pleasant Valley: Caden McDermott 37-149, Rusty VanWetzinga 3-9, Makhi Wilson 10-70, Tyge Lyon 17-84.

PASSING – City High: Drew Larson 6-11-1 170, Quinton Tran 3-4-0 19, Gable Mitchell 1-1-0 22. Pleasant Valley: Caden McDermott 1-1-0 8.

RECEIVING – City High: Gable Mitchell 2-29, Will Larson 1-5, Jovan Harris 1-43, Jamari Newson 3-94, Ronnie Major 1-12, Ben Kueter 2-28. Pleasant Valley: Ryan Groenenboom 1-8.

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