Susan Harman

Your Prep Sports

CEDAR RAPIDS – You don’t usually think of the offensive line as a catalyst, but Friday night at Kingston Stadium City High’s o-line was a steamroller over everything in its path.

“It felt like domination,” City High senior center Ostyn Friday said. “Everyone on the sidelines, we were ecstatic. We were just feeling like, ‘keep the ball rolling.’”

The fourth-ranked Little Hawks flattened top-ranked and undefeated Cedar Rapids Kennedy, 32-13, in a Class 5A quarterfinal game.

The Little Hawks (10-1) will play in Friday’s semifinals at the UNI-Dome against second-ranked Southeast Polk (10-1) at 7 p.m. Kennedy retires with a 10-1 record.

“We like to come out and set the tone early,” senior linebacker John Klosterman said. “So when we came out and set the tone and had all that momentum, we knew we could do anything; we had control of the game.”

Every good steamroller needs a driver, and City senior Darren Richardson was happy to oblige. Richardson rushed for 221 yards and three touchdowns, far eclipsing his per-game average of 74 yards.

“I’d get it and I’d see my linemen doing their work, and I just followed my linemen,” Richardson said.

“It’s so fun blocking for him because you know he’s not going to go down on first contact,” Friday said.

Richardson was quick to the hole, darted among the defenders, and left would-be tacklers grabbing at the air.

But let’s get back to the guys who paved the way.

City High scored touchdowns on their first two offensive possessions in the first quarter on drives of 68- and 47-yards.

The Little Hawks (Friday, Ethan Goodrich, Avery Goodrich, Aaron Stalkfleet and Sam Kueter) were blowing the Cougars off the line.

“Man, I love those guys to death,” Richardson said. “All of those guys are like brothers.”

The stunning display of control served notice that the Little Hawks were prepared to shred Kennedy’s impressive resume.

“I don’t want to say I was shocked, but I was kind of shocked at how hard we came out,” Ben Kueter said. “They didn’t have a response for awhile.”

“It feels great. I mean we were going against a 10-0 team, and they had a really good defense, but I believe in my boys,” Friday said. “I’ve been playing with them since like third grade, and we have like four seniors on the offensive line and we have a sophomore, Sam Kueter, and he’s going to be a great player.”

City led 20-0 after a 54-yard TD drive in which Richardson accounted for the final 35 yards. Kennedy finally scored on a solid 69-yard drive with 2:06 left in the half to cut the lead to a more manageable 20-7 at half.

Late in the third quarter Kennedy lineman Andrew Meyers tipped a City High pass and caught it, setting the Cougars up at the City High 19.

Cyrus Courtney caught a pass from Carson Blietz on the next play for the TD, and City High’s lead was down to 20-13.

“We knew they were going to fight tonight,” Friday said. “They’re a 10-0 team. They’re not just going to roll over, so when they came back we responded really well and scored those two touchdowns.”

City High responded with a drive to the 1-yard line early in the fourth quarter, but the Cougars held on fourth-and-goal from the one.

City High’s defense held and forced a punt that Gable Mitchell returned to the Cougar 27.

Four rushes later Richardson was in the end zone, and City had a more comfortable 26-13 lead with just 7:14 left to play.

Kennedy couldn’t move the ball on its next possession and elected to punt with 6-1/2 minutes left despite the 13-point deficit.

City High scored its final TD on an 80-yard drive, largely because of a 66-yard run by Richardson.

City High rushed for 265 yards and passed for 110 against one of the top defenses in Class 5A.

Its defense held the Cougars in check the whole night.

Kennedy averaged 191 yards rushing but was held to 111.

The Cougars had 73 passing yards, more than 100 yards fewer than their per-game average.

“We played our brand of football, and that’s flying around,” said linebacker Ben Kueter.

“They were definitely a ground-and-pound team,” Klosterman said. “They went after us early, but I think just knowing our assignment and doing what we had to do, it really brought up confidence. Like once we got that first stop, throughout the whole game we knew we could stop them.”

Coach Mitchell Moore wasn’t sure this was his team’s best performance even considering the circumstances, but he wasn’t about to give it back.

“We were stuck on 20 there for awhile, so offensively it wasn’t our best game,” he said. “But I thought it was our best game in terms of understanding where the momentum in the football game was and making sure it was on our side.”

City High had one of the largest road crowds in memory at chilly Kingston stadium, and its fans were vocal.

“It was amazing,” Klosterman said. “It was awesome to have all those fans, and just how loud it was. They were into it the whole game. Awesome, very exciting definitely.”

                                   ICH                CRK

First downs                 19                    14

Rushing-yards             46-265             38-113

Comp-att-int               8-11-1             8-19-2

Passing yards              110                  73

Punts-avg                    1-51                 5-32.8

Fumbles-lost               1-0                   0-0

Penalties-yards           7-55                 8-76

City High                   14  6  0  12  –  32

CR Kennedy              0  7  6   0   –  13

ICH – Jamari Newson 15 pass from Drew Larson (Kongalo Mwenemkamba kick)

ICH – Joey Bouska 6 run (Mwenemkamba kick)

ICH – Darren Richardson 2 run (Run failed)

CRK – Brenden Linde 9 pass from Carson Blietz (Luke Bradley kick)

CRK – Cyrus Courtney 19 pass from Blietz (Kick failed)

ICH – Richardson 2 run (Kick failed)

ICH – Richardson 3 run (Pass failed)

Individual statistics

RUSHING – City High: Darren Richardson 25-221, Joey Bouska 10-31, Ronnie Major 5-10, Drew Larson 2-3, Quinton Tran 3-0, Team 1-0. CR Kennedy: Jazan Williams 24-89, Colin Flanagan 5-23, Alex Koch 2-6, Hayden Klett 1-4, Michael Mulherin 1-3, Carson Blietz 5-(-12).

PASSING – City High: Quinton Tran 5-6-0 77, Drew Larson 3-5-1 33. CR Kennedy: Carson Blietz 8-19-2 73.

RECEIVING – City High: Jamari Newson 3-60, Darren Richardson 3-20, Ronnie Major 1-13, Gable Mitchell 1-17. CR Kennedy: Brenden Linde 3-23, C.J. Coker 1-23, Isaiah Morgan 1-14, Williams 2-7, Klett 1-6.

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