IOWA CITY – The Prairie Hawks dug themselves into a hole in the first half Thursday night at Iowa City High, barely climbed over the edge with a strong third quarter but then let the game slip out of their grasp.

The Little Hawks notched their first victory of the season by stopping Prairie on what could have been a game-ending possession and followed up with a gut-checking drive of their own for a come-from-behind 27-23 win.

Both Prairie (3-3) and City High (1-5) are now at 1-1 in Class 4A District 6 standings.

“Give them credit,” said a rain-soaked Prairie Coach Mike Morrissey. “They played very well. They played a better game than we did.

“They came out and set a high intensity level, and we just didn’t respond. We did a nice job in the second half. But you can’t win games by playing only one half.”

Iowa City, which had been outscored 170-43 in its first five games, came out on fire in the Thursday night contest scheduled to avoid the Yom Kippur Jewish holiday.

After losing a fumble on the Hawk 14 on their opening possession, the Little Hawks came back on their next possession with a 49-yard, five-play scoring drive.

On the very next play from scrimmage, Prairie sophomore quarterback Dakota Simonsen fumbled at his own 17 and the Little Hawks scored three plays later to make it 14-0.

Simonsen was in the lineup for the second week while starter Trey Beckman sits with concussion symptoms suffered in Game 4. Morrissey said his status is uncertain.

The Hawks did get on the scoreboard in the closing seconds of the quarter on a short run by Keagan Pinter, but Little Hawk quarterback Nate Weiland upped the margin to 21-6 at halftime with a 57-yard gallop around the left side.

His run came just two plays after a Prairie score was stymied by an interception in the end zone, one of three picks on the night to go along with one lost fumble.

“We had too many turnovers,” Morrissey said. “And we mad too many fundamental mistakes. We beat ourselves.”

Still, they rallied back after some halftime adjustments to post two third-quarter touchdowns on a 25-yard pass from Simonsen and a 10-yard scamper by Jujuan Simpson. Meanwhile, they held the Littler Hawks to nine total yards.

Prairie finally took a 23-21 lead when Sam Drysdale boomed a 47-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter.

“We came back and proved something,” said all-state senior lineman Bryce Meeker. “We just couldn’t finish. We ran out of second chances.”

The Hawks could have salted the game away when they forced Iowa City to punt from midfield with six minutes to go. Instead of sustaining a clock-eating drive, though, they had to punt after three plays.

In the final four minutes, the Little Hawks drove 49 yards to put the game away.

“If we’d made a couple of first downs there, we could have sealed it,” said Morrissey.

CITY HIGH 27, PRAIRIE 23

P CH

First downs                      16 14
Rushes-yards 41-261 43-254
Passing yards 85 21
Comp-att-int 9-22-3 2-9-1
Fumbles-lost 1-1 4-2
Punts-avg. 3-39 4-35
Penalties-yards 4-40 6-80

Prairie 6 0 14 3 -- 23
City High 14 7 0 6 -- 27

Scoring plays

CH – Nate Wieland 9 run. Ryan Brennan kick.
CH – Wieland 1 run. Brennan kick.
P – Keagan Pinter 1 run. Kick failed.
CH – Wieland 57 run. Breenan kick.
P –Connor Grade 25 pass from Dakota Simonsen. Sam Drysdale kick.
P – Jujuan Simpson 10 run. Drysdale kick.
P – Drysdale 47 field goals.l.
CH – Michael Fredieu 4 run. Kick failed.

Individual statistics

Rushing

Prairie – Keagan Pinter 31-231,  Dakota Simonsen 7-13.
City High –  Nate Wieland 18-136, Michael Fredieu 17-97.

Passing

Prairie – Simonsen 9-22-85-3.
City High – Wieland 2-8-21-1.

Receiving

Prairie – Pinter 2-12, Jalen Rima 3-27, Connor Grade 2-35.
City High  – Will Noack 1-17, Bryson Runge 1-4.