Douglas Miles

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – First it was up tempo, then it was ground and pound.

Both worked to perfection for the Iowa City High offensive attack, which just might have vaulted the Little Hawks into the Class 5A playoff field.

“I’ve coached football a long time and I have never had an offense this potent,” fourth-year City High Coach Mitchell Moore said after the Little Hawks upset Class 5A No. 1 Bettendorf, 42-23, in the prep football regular season finale for both schools Friday night at Bates Field. “Including this week, we are 49 (touchdowns) of 51 inside the red zone. You’re not going to find that anywhere in football. Forty-nine of 51 times we have scored inside the red zone. … It is such a credit to our confidence when we get inside there.”

City High (6-3) used its no-huddle attack to put up 28 points in the first half, then bled the clock in the second with a strong running game.

Senior quarterback Bobby Bacon threw for 260 yards and two touchdowns while sophomore tailback Dawson Kahl ran for 129 yards and four scores.

“We can do whatever we need to do to win the game,” Kahl said. “Whether that is getting the ball and moving as fast as we can, whatever it is. Very solid offense, very solid defense. We can’t be stopped at this point. Just keeping this train moving.”

The victory provided a much-needed boost to the Little Hawks’ playoff fortunes.

City High vaulted to No. 10 in the Ratings Percentage Index and the Class 5A pairings will be announced Saturday at 10 a.m.

Last season, City High closed the regular season schedule with a win at Bettendorf before losing to the Bulldogs a week later in the opening round of the playoffs.

“Extremely excited,” Kahl said. “Obviously, the end goal is to go to the (UNI) Dome. Bring a championship back to City High and send these seniors off with a great year.”

After trailing in the first quarter, 10-7, City High found the end zone three times in the second frame.

Bacon fired a 49-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Chayse Newton and Kahl posted his second short TD of the first half.

Facing a fourth down and goal at the Bettendorf three-yard-line, Bacon tossed the ball to 6-foot-6 tight end Parker Sutherland, who fought through the Bettendorf defense and stretched across for a tough TD.

“We have been working on that play since the summer,” said Bacon, a Division-II Pittsburg State (Kan.) commit. “We knew it could probably come back in times like these. Parker is just a playmaker. We always want to get him the ball in those types of situations.”

Kahl added two more scoring runs in the second half as the City High offense slowed things up and let its offensive line go to work.

“We were just saying, ‘Let’s put them away’,” Bacon said. “We have got to keep our foot on the gas because they definitely are a great program. We did a great job just continuing to do what we do in the second half.”

The City High defense limited Bettendorf (8-1) to just nine first downs, 227 total yards and intercepted two passes as the Bulldogs lost for the first time this season.

                                     BETT               ICH

First Downs               9                      24

Rushes-yards             27-116             42-231

Comp-Att-Int            7-18-2             16-20-2

Passing yards             111                  260

Total yards                227                  491

Punts-avg.                  2-41.5              1-10.0

Fumbles-lost              1-0                   0-0

Penalties-yards          7-55                 7-70

Bettendorf               10    0   6    7   –  23

City High                   7    21   0   14  –  42

ICH – Dawson Kahl 1 run (Jackson Nichols-Lindsey kick)

BET – Jackson Laver 28 run (Cam Scupham kick)

BET – Scupham 30 field goal

ICH – Chayse Newton 49 pass from Bobby Bacon (Nichols-Lindsey kick)

ICH – Kahl 5 run (Nichols-Lindsey kick)

ICH – Parker Sutherland 3 pass from Bacon (Nichols-Lindsey kick)

BET – Hayden Morrison 6 pass from Laver (pass failed)

ICH – Kahl 23 run (Nichols-Lindsey kick)

BET – Jacob Whipple 45 pass from Laver (Scupham kick)

ICH – Kahl 6 run (Nichols-Lindsey kick)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – Bettendorf: Jackson Laver 9-34, Jack Wessel 3-22, Jacob Whipple 14-56, Hayden Morrison 1-4; Iowa City High: Dominic Salibi 2-3, Bobby Bacon 3-16, Gabe Egeland 14-83, Dawson Kahl 23-129.

PASSING – Bettendorf: Jackson Laver 7-17-2-111, Cam Scupham 0-1-0-0; Iowa City High: Bobby Bacon 16-20-2-260.

RECEIVING – Bettendorf: Jacob Whipple 5-97, Hayden Morrison 2-14; Iowa City High: Dominic Salibi 2-28, Jack Lampe 0-0, Chayse Newton 2-58, Iyon Harris 0-0, Connor Cross 2-22, Gabe Egeland 3-45, Adan Carbajal 0-0, Parker Sutherland 6-89, Dawson Kahl 1-18.

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