Richard Podhajsky

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Things looked good early for the City High football team on Friday. But it got late quick for the Little Hawks.

Linn-Mar rattled off 55 consecutive points and rolled by City High 62-14 at Bates Field on Friday.

“We battled out there but they’ve got a really good football team; they’re undefeated in our district for a reason,” City High coach Dan Sabers said. “But we had fun for about a quarter.”

Linn-Mar (6-2, 4-0) got on the board first when Trey Martin returned a punt 52 yards for a score.

But City High then forced – and took advantage of – a pair of Lion turnovers.

Senior Jackson Ernst pounced on a fumble at the Lion 29 yard line, setting up Sila Lulinda’s 5-yard touchdown run, with a two-point conversion giving City High an 8-7 lead.

On the next Lion drive, Gable Mitchell picked off a Marcus Orr pass, with a pair of Linn-Mar personal fouls putting City High at the Lion 29 yard line.

Three plays later, Tonka Hickman rumbled into the end zone from four yards out to give the Little Hawks (2-6, 1-3) a 14-7 lead with just 12 seconds left in the first quarter.

The Lions then awoke from their slumber, outscoring City 35-0 in the second quarter, using a mix of quarterback Marcus Orr’s arm and the legs of Bricen White and Cameron Walker, who came on in relief after White slipped while trying to cut and left the game, not returning until after halftime.

White and Walker would combine for 191 yards rushing on 14 carries and two touchdowns, while Orr completed 13 of his 18 pass attempts, throwing for 263 yards and three scores.

He also carried the ball once, scrambling out of a collapsing pocket for a 10-yard touchdown run.

“We have a lot of players going both ways and we’re a little beat up, we’ve had some illness with some of our players,” Sabers said. “But that quarterback (Orr) is a heck of a football player. He was a little banged up earlier this season but he came back and they’ve played a lot better.”

Having racked up 285 total yards at halftime, Linn-Mar didn’t slow down much in the second half, with the Lion defense forcing three Little Hawk turnovers, one turning into a 55-yard interception return touchdown for Clayton Muszynski.

Hickman led the way on the ground for City High, rushing for 53 yards on 10 carries.

Junior quarterback Raph Hamilton finished 9-of-22 passing for 95 yards.

The game had playoff implications on both sides, with Linn-Mar securing the 4A District 4 title while City High was officially eliminated from postseason contention with the loss.

Still, Sabers tried to remain upbeat after the game.

“I’ve had worse losses in my career,” he said, adding he’s confident his team will be ready for the season-ending game against crosstown rival West High next week in the annual Battle for the Boot.

                              LM               ICH

First downs               9                      8

Rushes-yards           20-247          38-113

Passing yards           263                 95

Total yards                510                  208

Comp-Att-Int             13-18-1             9-22-2

Punts-avg.                0-0.0                5-37.8

Fumbles-lost            3-3                     2-2

Penalties-yards        8-100                 4-26

Linn-Mar     7  35  20  0  –  62

City High    14  0    0    0  –  14

LM – Trey Martin 52 punt return (Alex Cochrane kick)

ICH – Sila Lulinda 5 run (Tonka Hickman run)

ICH – Tonka Hickman 4 run (Pass failed)

LM – Bricen White 7 run (Cochrane kick)

LM – Marcus Orr 10 run (Cochrane kick)

LM – Cameron Walker 38 run (Cochrane kick)

LM – Walker 9 run (Cochrane kick)

LM – Trey Martin 19 pass from Orr (Cochrane kick)

LM – Martin 73 pass from Orr (Kick failed)

LM – Brandon Raus 10 pass from Orr (Cochrane kick)

LM – Clayton Muszynski 55 interception return (Cochrane kick)

Individual statistics

RUSHING: L-M: Bricen White 11-118, Cameron Walker 3-73, Marcus Orr 1-10, Ezekiel Spillman 1-8, Gabriel Guerrero 1-7, Andrew Knipper 1-(-5), Team 2-31. ICH: Tonka Hickman 10-53, Sila Lulinda 9-49, Josh Honson 5-8, Jackson Ernst 1-9, Maisha Sila 1-0, Kyle Clark 1-(-1), Raph Hamilton 11-(-5).

PASSING – Linn-Mar: Orr 13-18-1 263. ICH: Hamilton 9-22-2 95.

RECEIVING – LM: Brandon Raus 5-53, John Steffen 2-81, Trey Martin 3-91, Will Zahradnik 2-18. ICH: Gable Mitchell 5-56, Jacob Means 2-30, Lulinda 2-7.

Did you enjoy this subscription free article? Help keep Your Prep Sports free by becoming a member.