Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Last season it was a quick start that spurred West High to a win in its annual meeting with City High.

On Friday it was a strong finish that propelled the Trojans past their cross-town rivals.

Class 3A No. 11 West High scored three second-half goals and controlled the final 40 minutes in a 4-2 victory over No. 10 City High (3-2) on an overcast afternoon at City High.

City High struck first with a goal less than five minutes in but West High scored the next four goals while stretching its win streak against the Little Hawks to three.

“After we let one goal down I knew we couldn’t give another one to a cross-town rival,” West High senior junior Nelson said. “We had to finish the game strong and we did.”

Nelson scored twice and Miguel Cohen Suarez and Daniel Fuentes added goals as West High posted its highest scoring output against City High since a 4-2 win in 2012.

The win improved West High to 5-2 on the season and followed a 1-0 penalty kick loss at top-ranked Liberty High on Tuesday.

“There is a little deeper meaning in these games with our cross-town rivals,” Nelson said. “After this game we are going to have more motivation and try to finish the season better than we started.”

Last season West High scored twice in the opening 20 minutes on its way to a 3-1 win over City High.

On Friday it was the Little Hawks that struck quickly as senior Jacob Eisenberg finished off a pin-point Emmit Hansen feed for a 1-0 lead less than five minutes into the match.

It was all Trojans the rest of the way.

West High pulled even before the midway point of the first half when Nelson connected on a straight away free kick from just under 30 yards out.

The goal with 23:45 left swung all the momentum to the Trojans.

“Nelson putting it on frame on the free kick was huge,” West High coach Brad Stiles said. “That gave us a chance to finish the half and catch our breath.”

Tied 1-1 at intermission West High changed things up and took control in the second half.

Miguel Cohen Suarez gave West High its first lead at 2-1 with a goal off a Amre Ibrahim assist with 30:28 left.

Just more than five minutes later freshman Daniel Fuentes made it a 3-1 West High lead with a shot from 20 yards out.

“With this young of a team we have tried to stick with one formation just to keep everybody on the same page,” Stiles said. “At halftime we scrapped that and went with something completely different and obviously it worked out.”

While the West High attack gained traction it was the Trojan back line that picked it up in the second half.

“We knew we couldn’t lose this game,” senior center back Adarsh Khullar said. “The first goal I realized what happened because it was the same stuff that we talked about after the Liberty loss. We talked about it before the game and I knew I had to step it up.”

Nelson tacked on his second goal of the match on a breakaway with 3:07 left to give West High a 4-1 lead.

“One goal is all that matters, we got that one goal and the motivation started coming in,” Nelson said. “After that first goal we played how we should have.”

City High senior Alfredo Ortiz capped the scoring with a goal with 2:43 left.

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