Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – From the day he took over as the City High head football coach last December Mitch Moore demanded his team think big.

Coming off four consecutive two-win seasons Moore wanted the Little Hawks to think bigger than just being a little bit better.

Moore immediately began hammering in the idea the Little Hawks could do big things in 2021.

As in state championship big.

On Friday what started out as big thoughts give way to a big opportunity when fourth-ranked City High (10-1) faces second-ranked Southeast Polk (10-1) in a Class 5A state semifinal at 7 p.m. at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls.

“Coach Moore has been preaching this moment since the first day he came in,” City High senior Jamari Newson said. “That’s been our mindset since the start.”

The mindset Moore installed upon arrival at City High was to think big.

The process the first-year coach pushed to reach those big goals was taking a series of small steps.

City High has done just that while returning to the state semifinals for the first time since a runner-up finish in 2010.

“We’ve taken the process serious this year,” City High junioe Ben Kueter said. “We are worried about what we are doing each day and keep trying to get better every day.”

City High has passed a series of tests throughout the season that have seemed to strengthen incrementally throughout the fall.

First City High snapped a two-game losing skid to cross-town rival Liberty High with an emphatic 41-0 win in the season opener.

Then was a come-from-behind 21-17 win over perennial power West Des Moines Dowling.

Since a 17-point loss at Pleasant Valley in week seven City High has rattled off four consecutive wins including playoff victories over ninth-ranked Urbandale and top-ranked Cedar Rapids Kennedy.

“Just the collective belief in each other has been really, really neat to watch grow,” Moore said. “I think they really understand there aren’t a lot of secrets you just have to work hard. You have to put the time in day in and day out and these guys really understand that.”

The greatest test for the Little Hawks awaits on Friday in the form of defending 4A runner-up Southeast Polk.

Southeast Polk is 20-2 over the past two seasons with both losses coming to defending 4A champion Ankeny, 42-14 in the 4A final last season and 21-7 in week four of this year.

The Rams feature a pair of five-star ranked recruits in senior safety Xavier Nwankpa and junior offensive lineman Kaydn Proctor, a three-year starter division I quarterback in Arkansas State commit Jaxon Dailey and a slew of explosive skill position players.

“In my eyes I don’t think there is any question they are the best team, maybe on paper maybe in the history of Iowa high school football,” Moore said. “They have the best left tackle in the country, they have the best safety in the country, they have just a savvy, smart, veteran quarterback, they have (Cole) Filloon at receiver, they have (running back) Titus Christiansen who is a top 100 meter guy in the state, their backup back is as good as any back we’ve seen all year so we are darn glad the game isn’t played on paper because they stack up as good as anybody we have ever seen.”

The Rams have won seven straight since its week-four loss to Ankeny, outscoring opponents 280-77 in the process.

Southeast Polk defeated Johnston 57-7 in the postseason opener and downed West Des Moines Dowling for the second time this season in the quarterfinals 38-28.

“We just have to be really focused on surrounding ourselves with people that believe that we can do it,” Moore said. “Every single person that touches this program all week will have an impact on it some way or another. For us, we can’t get caught up in we are playing the best left tackle in the country because football is a game of 11-on-11.”

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