Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – A year ago City High squeaked past Des Moines Roosevelt 2-1 in a substate final to reach the state tournament for the first time since 2018.

The Little Hawks are headed back to the state tournament this season and this time they secured their spot in dominating fashion.

Class 4A third-ranked City High scored three first-half goals and built a 4-1 lead on its way to a 4-2 win over Bettendorf (11-3-3) in the Substate 6 title game on Thursday evening in Iowa City.

“I’m super excited that we made it again and that we were able to win in such a dominant way,” City High senior Jack Dancer said. “That gives us momentum going into state and it makes us feel like we can beat anyone next week.”

Dancer scored a pair of first-half goals and Taylor Salinas and Jonah Bowen-Burt each added goals as City High (15-1-3) pushed its winning streak to five.

City High hasn’t lost since a 4-3 setback against West High on April 24 going 11-0-2 and outscoring opponents 56-6 during that stretch.

The Little Hawks will open Class 4A state tournament play on June 2.

“There were a little nerves knowing that we could go home today playing against a good team like Bettendorf,” City High senior Jackson Nichols-Lindsey said. “But we know we are the better team and we know we are one of the best teams in the state and we want to compete for a state title.”

City High went on the offensive from the opening kick on Thursday against a Bettendorf team that entered the match with three consecutive shutouts.

Dancer got City High on the board early giving the Little Hawks a 1-0 lead with a header.

Bettendorf got the equalizer less than two minutes later but the rets of the game was all City High.

“We came out with a plan to play direct from the beginning,” Dancer said. “We really wanted to be able to put them under pressure early and we were able to execute that plan.”

Bowen-Burt put City High back on top when he slipped in a shot off a corner kick.

“I’ve just been sitting at the top of the area on those corners and sometimes I get the shot off and sometimes the shot never happens,” Bowen-Burt said. “As soon as I took that touch, as soon as I hit it I knew it was nice.”

Dancer made it 3-1 at the half when he scored on a penalty kick to extend the City High lead.

“We were just aggressive, we were hungry,” Nichols-Lindsey said. “We pressed. We really pressed them and we were extremely physical and we didn’t give up easy stuff.”

Leading 3-1 at the half City High continued to push after halftime.
Salinas blasted in a shot from just inside the box to push the lead to 4-1 with 32:55 remaining and Bettendorf never got close than two goals the rest of the way.

“We have seen it before, we have seen undefeated teams lose and not go to state and we kept telling them, reminding them it happens every single year it happens with one team and we can not be that team,” City High coach Jose Fajardo said. “They stayed focused, they did a great job of executing what we had to do.”

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