Douglas Miles

Your Prep Sports

JOHNSTON – They were the type of mistakes that you might get away with against lesser competition.

But against a top-10 team in the playoffs? They will end your season nearly every time.

And still, City High nearly survived.

“Two good opponents and two hard-playing football teams,” second-year City High coach Mitchell Moore said after the Class 5A eighth-ranked Little Hawks rallied from a 17-point deficit before being eliminated by No. 9 Johnston in overtime, 38-31, in a first-round playoff game Friday night at Johnston High School. “They got the last score to beat us and we couldn’t get it in. I am not sure how close we were down here. Fumbled it at the end, but it was about as good of a high school football game as you are going to be around. Certainly hate being on this end of things.”

After Johnston (7-3) opened the overtime period with a touchdown, City High needed to match with a touchdown of its own to extend the game.

But on fourth down at the Dragons’ three-yard line, City High fumbled the ball into the end zone, and the Johnston sideline poured onto the field in celebration.

“A lot of credit to those guys,” Moore said. “I thought they played clean and they kept their mouths shut and they played hard. Their defense was as good as advertised.”

City High (6-4) received a pair of touchdown runs from Iowa football/wrestling commit Ben Kueter at the beginning and end of the first half, but what transpired in between the two scores was a struggle.

The Little Hawks were responsible for a turnover on downs, had a punt blocked, lost a fumble, dropped a pass on a well-executed fake punt attempt, threw an interception and committed seven penalties.

All by halftime.

Yet the second Kueter score cut the City High deficit at the break to 24-14.

“Our biggest thing this year is we just faced so much adversity,” Kueter said. “So when you see little things like that in games, it doesn’t faze us. It is easy to bounce back and just look for the next thing.”

The “next thing” was a strong second half, highlighted by a touchdown pass from Drew Larson to tailback Ronnie Major and Kueter’s third rushing touchdown of the night, which tied the game at 31-31 with 6:43 left in regulation.

A game that was on the verge of getting out of hand in the first half with Johnston up, 24-7, was suddenly deadlocked.

“I challenged the guys,” Moore said. “I said, ‘Guys, are they better than us? What is our issue?’ We just didn’t have a lot of juice after we score that touchdown (to open the game). When we kind of got the momentum back, our kids just kept fighting. We’re a tough football team. That is definitely one of our characteristics and it showed tonight. We played tough. We played hard. We could have let that game get away and we kept battling. That is a testament to our program.”

The Little Hawks had a chance to win the game in regulation with seven seconds left, but a 31-yard field goal sailed wide.

City High piled up 306 rushing yards, led by a season-high 139 from Larson, which nearly matched his season total (164) entering the game.

Larson also threw for 237 yards, including 73 via 11 receptions for junior receiver Carsen Newton.

In addition to their self-inflicted errors, the Little Hawks were hurt by the passing of Johnston sophomore quarterback Will Nuss, who totaled 279 passing yards and five touchdowns.

“A savvy player,” Moore said.

Johnston senior receivers Rex Woodley (24.4 yards per reception) and Tatum Fox (21.3) entered the playoffs ranked first and third, respectively, in 5A receiving yards per catch.

Those statistics held up as Woodley recorded five receptions for 151 yards, including a 62-yard second-quarter score on the second play after his defense recovered a fumble.

“They hit us on some really good passes,” Moore said.

Fox added three catches for 81 yards, including TDs of 30 and 45 yards.

Senior receiver Jacob Simpson posted three receptions for 35 yards and two scores, including the go-ahead TD in overtime from 10 yards away.

Kueter will now shift his focus to wrestling season, where he has the opportunity for a coveted fourth individual state championship as a prep competitor.

“Just make my teammates and everyone around me better,” Kueter said. “Go after that fourth state championship.”

Kueter, leading rusher Ronnie Major and leading receiver Akili Mattox will all graduate from City High, but the Little Hawks will return a ton of valuable experience next season, led by Larson under center and junior defensive end Sam Kueter, who enjoyed a breakout season this year.

“I am really proud of the guys,” Sam Kueter said. “I’ll give them one more day and then our offseason starts on Sunday.”

Johnston will visit No. 3 Ankeny (9-1) in a 5A state quarterfinal next Friday.

“In the game of football, it is always got to be about the journey and not the destination,” Moore said. “And this team, we have had a heck of a journey. Taking a program two years ago that was in dire need of a resurgence and now we are printing playoff shirts two years in a row. I am really proud of those guys for that and getting this program where we want to be.”

                                      ICH                JON

First Downs               24                    7

Rushes-yards             46-306             21-51

Comp-Att-Int            29-46-1           14-26-1

Passing yards             237                  279

Total yards                543                  330

Punts-avg.                  1-27                 4-35.2

Fumbles-lost             3-2                   1-1

Penalties-yards          14-140             6-63

City High         7   7   7  10  0  –  31

Johnston        17  7   0   7   7  –  38

ICH – Ben Kueter 30 run (Thomas Ksobiech kick)

JOHN – Tatum Fox 30 pass from Will Nuss (Carson Hanson kick)

JOHN – Jacob Simpson 6 pass from Nuss (Hanson kick)

JOHN – Hanson 35 field goal

JOHN – Rex Woodley 62 pass from Nuss (Hanson kick)

ICH – Kueter 21 run (Ksobiech kick)

ICH – Ronnie Major 10 pass from Drew Larson (Ksobiech kick)

JOHN – Fox 45 pass from Nuss (Hanson kick)

ICH – Ksobiech 26 field goal

ICH – Kueter 14 run (Ksobiech kick)

JOHN – Simpson 10 pass from Nuss (Hanson kick)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – ICH: Drew Larson 17-139, Ronnie Major 11-75, Sam Rew 2-8, Ben Kueter 12-95, Talon Young 1-0, Dominic Salibi 2-0, Alex Knudtson 1-(-11). JON: Blake Tubbs 13-53, Menson Martin 5-14, Will Nuss 3-(-16).

PASSING – ICH: Drew Larson 29-44-1 237; Carsen Newton 0-1-0 0, Jeremiah Madlock 0-1-0 0. JON: Will Nuss 14-26-1 279.

RECEIVING – ICH: Carsen Newton 11-73, Dominic Salibi 2-16, Akili Mattox 4-76, Ben Kueter 3-(-1), Sam Rew 4-39, Holdon Clay 1-5, Ronnie Major 4-29. JON: Blake Tubbs 3-12, Tatum Fox 3-81, Rex Woodley 5-151, Jacob Simpson 3-35.

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