Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Detail.

Mitch Moore believed that is what was missing from his City High team in a season-opening loss to Liberty High.

That is what the Little Hawks have stressed during the 14 days since that opening-night loss.

The results have followed.

City High (2-1) posted a second consecutive impressive win on Friday scoring the final 28 points in a 55-19 win over Ames in the annual Little Cy-Hawk matchup at Bates Field in Iowa City.

“It was just detail and we’ve cleaned up a lot of things,” City High junior quarterback Drew Larson said. “Our detail has gotten a lot better in the last two weeks.”

Larson passed for 259 yards and four touchdowns and senior Ronnie Major rushed for 94 yards and three scores as City High won its third straight in the Little Cy-Hawk series.

City High scored on six consecutive possessions after Ames (2-1) cut the lead to 13-12 early in the second quarter and rolled up a season-high 463 yards of total offense.

“I think it’s our detail,” Major said. “When we are down we don’t have our swagger and that’s a big part of us. When we are up and winning all that swagger comes and we have that energy.”

Moore honed in on detail in the days following a 36-19 week-one loss to Liberty High in which City High was held scoreless in the second half.

Over its past two games City High has outscored opponents 132-19 including a 35-0 margin after halftime.

“After that first week we really sharpened in on our detail and said What do we have to do to put a little more detail into what we are doing?,” Moore said. “We are 12 practices better than we were 12 practices ago and that’s a mark of a team that is continuing to grow.”

City High got its offense rolling early taking the opening kickoff and going 66 yards in nine plays and taking a 6-0 lead on a 1-yard plunge by Larson.

The Little Hawks upped the lead to 13-0 when Larson connected with Jeremiah Madlock on a 12-yard scoring strike on fourth-and-9.

Madlock joined teammates Sam Rew and Akili Mattox in catching touchdown passes as eight different Little Hawks had a reception on Friday.

“Our offense is dynamic,” Larson said. “We have a lot of playmakers, a lot of ways to score and gain yards.”

Ames rallied back on the arm of senior quarterback of Dallas Sauser who connected with senior receiver Jalen Lueth for a trio of first-half touchdown passes.

A sliding 5-yard touchdown grab by Lueth cut the City High lead to 13-12 with 9:03 left in the first half.

That is when City High kick its offense up a notch.

On the first play from scrimmage on the ensuing drive Major raced 67 yards for a touchdown that put City High up 20-12.

“I read my blocks and I saw that my receiver had a good block,” Major said. “I just had to use my speed to get past them and that’s exactly what I did.”

The City High defense forced a three-and-out and three plays later Major scored on an 18-yard run.

Lueth cut the lead to 27-19 with a leaping 21-yard touchdown grab on the ensuing Little Cyclone possession but City High scored on its final two possessions of the half to take a 41-19 halftime lead.

Larson capped a two-play drive with a 41-yard strike to Rew and Major ended a six-play, 50-yard march with a 1-yard scoring run.

“I think they got a little bit tight when we stopped them early,” Moore said. “A lot of credit goes to their coach and their quarterback, they do a tremendous job of controlling games and I think we rattled them a little bit by taking away some of their good things.”

City High scored on its first two possessions of the second half to trigger the continuous clock.

Akili Mattox outleaped a pair of Ames defenders for a 61-yard touchdown grab and Larson hit Rew for a 30-yard catch and run that ended a 12-play, 94-yard march that started with 11 consecutive running plays.

“We needed a little confidence,” Larson said. “We got down a little bit after that first game but I think with two wins in a row we’ve gotten a lot of confidence back.”

Rew caught three passes for 77 yards and two scores, Mattox had two grabs for 71 yards, Major caught four passes for 43 and Ben Kueter had three receptions for 22 yards.

“Ronnie, Akili, Madlock, we have a lot of weapons,” Moore said. “We needed a chance to grown and I am really pleasantly surprised with the growth of some of those young receivers early and we still have room to grow.”

Sauser threw for 244 yards with Lueth making 13 receptions for 233 yards and the three touchdowns.

                                                     ICH                AME

First Downs                           20                    18

Rushes-yards                         29-186             29-84

Comp-Att-Int                        19-25-1           16-32-0

Passing yards                         277                  244

Total yards                            463                  328

Punts-Avg.                             2-31.5              4-19

Fumbles-lost                          1-0                   3-2

Penalties-yards                      9-110               6-37

City High                   13  28  14  0  –  55

Ames                           6   13   0   0  –  19 

ICH – Drew Larson 1 run (Kick failed0

ICH – Jeremiah Madlock 12 pass from Larson (Thomas Ksobiech kick)

AME – Jalen Lueth 2 pass from Dallas Sauser (Pass failed)

AME – Lueth 5 pass from Sauser (Pass failed)

ICH – Ronnie Major 67 run (Ksobiech kick)

ICH – Major 18 run (Ksobiech kick)

AME – Lueth 21 pass from Sauser (88 kick)

ICH – Sam Rew 41 pass from Larson (Ksobiech kick)

ICH – Major 1 run (Ksobiech kick)

ICH – Akili Mattox 61 pass from Larson (Ksobiech kick)

ICH – Rew 30 pass from Larson (Ksobiech kick)

Individual statistics

RUSHING – ICH: Ronnie Major 7-94, Ben Kueter 9-56, Holden Clay 5-36, Drew Larson 3-14, Sam Rew 1-6, Dominic Salibi 3-1, Quinton Tran 1-(-21). AME: Jamison Poe 16-78, Cameron Cantonwine 7-30, Bobby Uthe 2-4, Dallas Sauser 3-(-17), Team 1-(-11).

PASSING – ICH: Drew Larson 16-19-1 259, Quinton Tran 3-6-0 18. AME: Dallas Sauser 16-32-0 244.

RECEIVING – ICH: Ronnie Major 4-43, Sam Rew 3-77, Ben Kueter 3-22, Connor Cross 3-19, Akili Mattox 2-71, Jeremiah Madlock 2-24, Evan Lampe 1-12, Raymond Nugent 1-9. AME: Jalen Lueth 13-233, Jamison Poe 2-8, Braydon Beelner 1-3.

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