IOWA CITY - Often times in a high school football game, the team that outgains its opponent by 100 total yards ends up the victor.

Against Cedar Rapids Kennedy, Iowa City High said goodbye to the yards, but a resounding hello to the end zone.

That's a pretty good trade if you ask the Little Hawks.

City High ran past Kennedy 48-26 at Bates Field in the first round of the Class 4A Iowa High School playoffs Wednesday night.

The Cougar offense recorded 372 yards of total offense compared to City High’s 269.

Kennedy (5-5) held Ronald Washington to his second lowest output of the season with 63 yards on the ground, and held the usually potent Little Hawk ground game to well under its average.

Even though Thompson didn’t have the yards, he found the end zone three times, on short runs set up by defensive and special teams plays.

City High (8-2) was the beneficiary of excellent field position and ran out to a 41-6 halftime lead.

“We had everything going wrong that could possibly go wrong in every facet of the game with offense, defense, and special teams,” said Kennedy Coach Tim Lewis.  “There are not a lot of adjustments you can make at that point other than just keep fighting.”

Most of City High’s rushing yards came on the first drive of the game. Between Thompson and Jasper Washington, the Little Hawks rushed nine times for 65 yards, capped by a two-yard scoring plunge by Thompson.

Then, indicative of the rest of the first half, City High intercepted Kennedy quarterback Jimmy Lizarraga on the Cougars’ second play from scrimmage, setting up another short City High score.

Early in the second quarter, Kennedy punted to speedy Little Hawk Jeremy Johnson, who returned the punt 45 yards down the Kennedy one-inch line setting up yet another easy touchdown.

With the Little Hawks up 20-0 and unable to get anything going on offense, Kennedy started going to the air.

“We lived and died with the run this year and City High did a great job at taking away what we did best,” said Lewis.  “Jimmy had some routes that the receivers like to run and that he likes to throw and as soon as City High took those away, we were kind of grab bagging. We were throwing stuff that we weren’t as comfortable with so that put us in a little predicament.”

The Little Hawk secondary was ready, as Johnson intercepted a Lizarraga pass and returned it 42 yards for another City High score. City High intercepted four Lizarraga passes.

To add insult to injury, Johnson struck again with one minute to go in the first half when he caught a 63-yard touchdown pass from Washington.

With the score 41-6 at halftime, most people just wanted the continuous clock to do its work so the second half could breeze by. Everybody was confident that the game was over. Everyone, except the Cougars.

While the third quarter was uneventful and did breeze by, Kennedy came out in the fourth quarter and willed three touchdowns on the board, making fans readjust their gaze to the game.

Kennedy running back Trevor Heitland shined, scoring two touchdowns in the second half and collecting over 230 yards of offense for the game.

Lizarraga calmed down as well in the second half, passing for 140 yards and a touchdown to Josh Jahlas late in the fourth that pulled the Cougars within 15.

Forget the continuous clock, it was a two-possession game. Kennedy had made believers out of some people.

But the clock proved to be Kennedy’s enemy, and City High’s Washington sealed the victory with a 17-yard run with under four minutes left in the game, putting the Little Hawks up 48-26 for good.

Needless to say, the Cougars went out with a bang.

“I am really proud of that effort,” said Lewis. “Forty-one to 6 at half, that is pretty brutal. I challenged them just to make sure they don’t leave this field with regrets because the last game is always the one you remember. I am really happy that they stepped up to that challenge.”

Similar to their entire season, the Cougars were underdogs, and clawed from behind. If nothing else, Lewis always knew they wouldn’t quit.

“I am just really proud of their effort. With only two starters coming back on both sides of the ball coming into the season, I don’t think there were too many people who gave us much of a shot, but to have a winning regular season and finish tied for second in the league I am proud of their effort.”

City High plays at Cedar Falls (9-1) in Monday's second round at the UNI-Dome.



IOWA CITY HIGH 48, KENNEDY 26

Kennedy      0   6   0  20  -  26
City High     13 28  0   7   -  48

ICH: Ronald Thompson 2 run (kick failed)
ICH: Jasper Washington 5 run (Drew Cornwell kick)
ICH: Thompson 2 run (Cornwell kick)
ICH: Jeremy Johnson 42 interception return (Cornwell kick)
ICH: Thompson 1 run (Cornwell kick)
CRK: Alex Hillyer 92 kickoff return (kick failed)
ICH: Johnson 63 pass from Washington (Cornwell kick)
CRK: Trevor Heitland 33 run (Jordan Holzer kick)
CRK: Heitland 14 run (Holzer kick)
CRK: Josh Jahlas 30 pass from Jimmy Lizarraga (kick failed)
ICH: Washington 17 run (Cornwell kick)

Team Stats

First Downs - -  CRK 15, ICH 14

Rushes yards - -  CRK 34-222, ICH 34-145

Receiving yards - - CRK 150, ICH 124

Comp-Att-Int - - CRK 11-35-4, ICH 5-7-0

Punts-avg - - CRK 2-33.5, ICH 2-38.5

Fumbles-lost - - CRK 2-1, ICH 3-2

Penalties-yards - - CRK 2-10, ICH 1-15


Individual Stats

Rushing - - CRK: Trevor Heitland 19-184, Alex Hillyer 11-38, Jimmy Lizarraga 4-0

ICH: Ronald Thompson 16-63, Jasper Washington 10-57, Isaiah Washpun 4-19, Kody Dailey 2-5, Cortez Barfield 1-1, Tyler Stika 1-0

Passing - - CRK: Lizarraga 11-35-4 150. ICH: Washington 5-7-0 124

Receiving - - CRK: Heitland 4-59, Josh Jahlas 2-43, Hillyer 2-21, Shane Williams 2-17, Jacob Frazier-Flores 1-10.  ICH: Jeremy Johnson 2-70, Tony Perry 2-40, Steve Ferentz 1-14.