Douglas Miles

Your Prep Sports

WEST DES MOINES – Mitch Moore is going to give his team 24 hours to think about this one.

The second-year Iowa City High football coach has maintained all season that his group was going to be learning from week to week and every opponent would provide “teachable moments.”

The Little Hawks were on the receiving end of plenty of such learning opportunities Friday night at West Des Moines Dowling.

“They have got a really good D-line,” Moore said after Class 5A No. 10 City High was blanked by third-ranked Dowling, 34-0, in a non-district game at Valley Stadium. “They really halted us up front with their D-line and we couldn’t run the ball.”

City High (2-2) found some offensive success early, but was undone by a host of failed fourth-down conversion attempts.

The Little Hawks were 0 for 6 on such attempts during the game, including five times on the Dowling end of the field.

It was likely a game where the Little Hawks felt touchdowns, not field goals, would be needed to keep pace with the Marooons.

“It is just more of a feel thing,” Mitchell said.

City High senior receiver Akili Mattox was a big reason why the Little Hawks were able to push the ball into Dowling territory time and again as he recorded 100 receiving yards by halftime and finished the game with eight receptions for 128 yards.

“We were using our quick game a lot,” Mattox said. “We practice it all the time. We knew that they were going to man us.”

City High managed just 16 rush yards in the first half.

Dowling (3-1) – winner of ten state titles in the 2000s, including seven in a row from 2013-19 – jumped ahead early after tailbacks CJ Phillip and Ra’Shawd Davis each posted 10-yard touchdown runs in the first quarter.

Maroons’ quarterback Jaxon Smolik gave his team a 21-0 halftime lead with a 28-yard scoring toss to receiver Beau Gamble.

“It is just typical Dowling football,” said City High senior linebacker Ben Kueter, an Iowa football and wrestling commit. “Big, tough guys that hit hard and play fast.”

Phillip added a second scoring scamper in the third quarter as Dowling avenged last season’s narrow loss to City High.

The game was hindered by an excessive amount of extracurricular activity, both verbal and physical, that seemed to occur both before and after the officials’ whistle stopped play.

With tensions stoked on both sidelines at various times, there was genuine concern that a boiling point would be reached and after the game, the jawing continued from both sides.

“I have coached a lot of football games and I never seen one that out of control,” Moore said. “It should have been handled better by the officials, but that is neither here nor there. It is not 34 points, I know that. Frustrating, to say the least. I thought it definitely got out of control.”

Junior quarterback Drew Larson threw for 190 yards and ran for 33 for City High (2-2), which opens district play next Friday at crosstown rival Iowa City West (3-1) in the annual “Battle for the Boot.”

“I certainly have a ton of respect for (West) Coach (Garrett) Hartwig and that program,” Mitchell said. “It is a really fun rivalry. It is a really big deal for us and our kids and it is a really big deal for their kids.”

                                     ICH                WDD

First Downs               13                    17

Rushes-yards             29-74               37-197

Comp-Att-Int            18-40-0           13-23-0

Passing yards             190                  159

Total yards                264                  356

Punts-avg.                  5-33                 2-36

Fumbles-lost             2-1                   2-1

Penalties-yards          9-80                 3-30

City High                                     0   0  0  0  –  0

West Des Moines Dowling   14  7  6  7  –  34

WDD – CJ Phillip 10 run (Andrew Schumacher kick)

WDD – Ra’Shawd Davis 10 run (Andrew Schumacher kick)

WDD – Beau Gamble 28 pass from Jaxon Smolik (Andrew Schumacher kick)

WDD– CJ Phillip 2 run (kick failed)

WDD – Jack Moore 9 run (Andrew Schumacher kick)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – ICH: Drew Larson 13-33, Ronnie Major 9-17, Sam Rew 1-4, Ben Kueter 3-14, Quinton Tran 2-3, Gabe Egeland 1-3. WDD: Dante Cataldo 1-9, Jaxon Smolik 3-24, Ra’Shawd Davis 9-60, CJ Phillip 12-65, Jack Moore 9-31, Trig Troyer 3-8.

PASSING – ICH: Drew Larson 17-39-0 177; Quinton Tran 1-1-0 13. WDD: Jaxon Smolik 12-21-0-152, Dante Cataldo 1-1-0-7, Jack Jepson 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING – ICH: Oliver Kniss 1-7, Akili Mattox 8-128, Ben Kueter 1-3, Connor Cross 2-14, Sam Rew 2-5, Jeremiah Madlock 1-7, Evan Lampe 1-8, Kael Kurtz 2-18. WDD: Cooper Nicholson 3-28, Beau Gamble 3-49, CJ Phillip 3-22, Jalyn Thompson 4-60.

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