Tyler Devine

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – On a night in which City High honored its dominant 1996 state championship football team the 2021 team had a similar look about it in a 68-0 win over an overmatched Cedar Rapids Jefferson team on a misty night in Iowa City.

The Little Hawks set the school’s single-game scoring record to improve to 2-0 on the season and have yet this season to surrender a point on defense.

“The story of this team right now is the energy, the passion, and the excitement we’re playing the game of football with is exciting to me,” City High coach Mitch Moore said. “That’s the brand of football we want to play. And we want to do it the right way. Today we talked about having some professional confidence about you.

“Winners win the right way. I think we knew probably on paper we were the better team, but we wanted to do it the right way. We wanted to play with our pads, keep our mouths shut and play with great energy, passion and enthusiasm.”

Much of City High’s success came from big plays in a variety of ways.

Senior running back and defensive back Joey Bouska returned an interception 15 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter.

On its next possession, Jefferson was forced to punt, which senior receiver Gable Mitchell returned 70 yards to put City High up 21-0 with over five minutes left in the first quarter.

Mitchell also caught a screen pass and took it 41 yards on City High’s first play from scrimmage.

The Little Hawks also had touchdown passes of 35 and 78 yards, and a 35-yard touchdown run by sophomore Jake Mitchell with seven seconds left in the game.

Senior running back Jamari Newson also had a 47-yard run that set up a nine-yard touchdown run by junior Ronnie Major.

“Big play ability is something we’ve got to do to win big games,” Moore said. “I think defense is going to keep us in a lot of games. But we have explosive players and we’ve got to have big play ability to win games. We’re going to have to ground and pound these next couple weeks, but that big play ability will open some of that up for us and we’ve got some people that can do that.”

City High’s defense was dominant as well despite its starters sitting the entire second half.

The Little Hawks allowed 51 yards on 33 rushing attempts, most of which came in the second half, and held Jefferson to two first downs.

City High also forced three Jefferson turnovers and did not allow the J-Hawks to complete a pass.

Sophomore quarterback Drew Larson completed all four of his passes for 162 yards and two touchdowns. Senior fullback Darren Richardson led the Little Hawks with 59 yards on seven carries and two touchdowns.

“We’ve done a good job of – from myself down to the last assistant – making sure that this team loves each other before they do anything else,” Moore said. “You can feel that. You’re starting to feel that every game, but just love and passion and brotherhood.”

                                     ICH                           CRJ

First Downs                 10                                   2

Rushes-Yards              22-214                          33-51

Passing Yards              165                                 0

Total Yards                  376                                 51

Comp-Att-Int               6-6-0                            0-0-1

Punts-Avg.                   0-0                                 6-31

Fumbles-Lost              2-1                                  2-2

Penalties-Yards           3-25                               5-25

Jefferson                    0      0    0    0  –  0

City High                   35    12   14    7  –  68

CHS – Ben Kueter 17 run (Kongalo Mwenemkamba kick)

CHS – Bouska 15 interception return (Mwenemkamba kick)

CHS – Gable Mitchell 70 punt return (Mwenemkamba kick)

CHS – Major 9 run (Mwenemkamba kick)

CHS – Jovan Harris 35 pass from Drew Larson (Mwenemkamba kick)

CHS – Richardson 12 run (kick no good)

CHS – Richardson 17 run (kick no good)

CHS – Sam Rew 10 run (Brown kick)

CHS – Will Larson 78 pass from Drew Larson (Brown kick)

CHS – Jake Mitchell 35 run (Brown kick)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – City High: Richardson 7-59, Newson 1-47, Jake Mitchell 2-43, Bryce Roos 6-24, Kueter 1-17, Bouska 4-13, Major 1-9. Jefferson: Kay’Zure Lewis 19-55, Frank Budederi 11-16, Johnnie Robinson 1-(-6), Jeremiah Peiffer 1-(-8).

PASSING – City High: Drew Larson 4-4-2 162, Quinton Tran 2-2-0 3. Jefferson: Lewis 0-3-1 0, Peiffer 0-1-0 0

RECEIVING – City High: Will Larson 2-85, Gable Mitchell 2-49, Harris 1-35, Rew 2-26, Evan Lampe 1-3, Major 1-(-4).

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