Iowa City High trudges through mud to win Boot, 14-12 over West

IOWA CITY-Almost constant rain, a nearly two-hour lightning delay and the resulting soggy field left the annual Battle for the Boot a toss-up. The weather helped negate some of Iowa City West's advantages at wide receiver, and that's the way it played out in a 14-12 City High victory.

'It's amazing; it's the best feeling in the world,” City High senior Tom Pugh said. 'We worked so hard for this.”

'This was a character builder,” City High Coach Dan Sabers said. 'There were some ups and downs, and we had to make some plays. We just kept battling. We had Coach (Larry) Brown come and talk to them and he said, ‘48 minutes for a lifetime.' And boy, they're never going to forget this one.”

The teams played all of two minutes before lightning delayed the game. It resumed at about 9:30 p.m. with the field a slick, soggy mess.

'Both teams had to play in it,” West Coach Garrett Hartwig said. 'I thought both teams handled it as well as they could. We knew it would be like this. I thought we were prepared well.”

City High converted the game's first turnover into a touchdown. On the second play from scrimmage after the delay Oliver Martin fumbled, and City's Naeem Smith recovered at the West 35.

City got one first down but bogged down. With a fourth-and-14 at the 27, Nate Wieland passed to Jason Jones in the corner of the end zone for the touchdown with 7:37 left in the first period.

'That was just a momentum changer for us,” Jones said.

City kicker Sarrive Rukakiza managed to make the PAT, which proved to be critical.

The Trojans had trouble moving the ball and mustered just three first downs in the half. But the defense came up with a huge goal-line stand late in the first half. City had two shots at a first down or a touchdown from the 1-yard line and was turned away both times.

'We were frustrated,” Wieland said. 'It would have put us up two touchdowns, and that would have been huge.”

'We knew that was kind of a downfall for us, but we couldn't let that get to us,” Jason Jones said. 'We had to keep pushing and pushing.”

City got the ball back and was set to try a 27-yard field goal, but the snap wasn't handled in the wet conditions. That left the Trojans with only a 7-point deficit at halftime.

'Our defense played well; we're getting better,” Hartwig said.

West scored on its first possession of the second half on a 70-yard drive that culminated in a pass from wide receiver Martin to Devontae Lane. West elected not to try a kick in the heavy rain. and the 2-point conversion failed.

'The conditions,” Hartwig said when asked why he didn't try a conventional kick. 'Hard to snap, hard to catch. I was watching our kicker in warm-up and his plant (foot) was all over the place. (City) barely made their extra point. It's a decision you have to make on the spot because of the conditions.”

West had another good drive stall at the City 30. The Little Hawks then drove 70 yards for their second touchdown aided by a pass interference penalty on a second-and-20 play. Kennardo Rodney, a reserve running back who finished with 61 yards, completed the drive on a 10-yard run that finished with a scrum of Little Hawks pushing the pile into the end zone. Nearly nine minutes remained in the game.

'I just came up running, the line did a good job and I just put it in when I could,” Rodney said. 'It was hard to keep your feet underneath you.”

Again Rukakiza made the point-after kick for a 14-6 lead, although this one nearly leaked outside the right upright.

'It's crazy to think about,” Wieland said of the margin of victory.

West couldn't move the ball and punted, but Wieland was intercepted by Dallas Majors at the City High 47 with 5:50 left to play.

The Trojans drove the rest of the way, thanks in part to two City High penalties, and Mason Carter scored the touchdown on a 15-yard run with 2:24 left. West's 2-point conversion pass was incomplete.

But West executed a perfect onside kick with Mason Koch recovering on the City 49-yard line with 2:21 left in the game. A holding penalty hurt the Trojans, who were eventually left with a fourth-and-13 at their own 48. Quarterback Alex Henderson threw the ball deep, but it was tipped and intercepted by City's Jones. He knew what that meant.

'That we'd get the Boot back,” he said. 'That we'd make our team proud, make (our school) proud, make our principal proud.”

Iowa City High 14, Iowa City West 12

Iowa City West 0 0 6 6--12

Iowa City High 7 0 0 7--14

Scoring summary

ICH-Jason Jones 27 pass from Nate Wieland (Sarrive Rukakiza kick)

ICW-Devontae Lane 14 pass from Oliver Martin (pass failed)

ICH-Kennardo Rodney 10 run (Rukakiza kick)

ICW-Mason Carter 15 run (pass failed)

ICW ICH

First downs 13 13

Rushes-yards 27-34 37-119

Passing-yards 129 138

Comp-att-int 14-26-1 8-20-3

Punts-avg. 6-36.8 3-44

Fumbles-lost 1-1 1-0

Penalties-yards 5-55 10-100

Individual statistics

Rushing-ICW: Mason Carter 5-19, Oliver Martin 3-18, Mason Koch 3-4, Devontae Lane 1-1, Yeshuwa Hicks 7-0, team 1-0, Alex Henderson 7-(-8);

ICH: Kennardo Rodney 11-61, Nate Wieland 12-54, James Martinez-Burney 3-12, Erick Fletcher 5-8, Jason Jones 4-7, team 2-(-23).

Passing-ICW: Alex Henderson 13-25-1-115, Oliver Martin 1-1-0-14.

ICH: Nate Wieland 8-18-1-138, Jared Taylor 0-1-1-0, Sarrive Rukakiza 0-1-1-0.

Receiving-ICW: Oliver Martin 8-71, Devontae Lane 4-40, Nick Kean 1-14, Donovan Doyle 1-10, Mason Carter 1-4.

ICH:Jason Jones 6-93, Will Noack 1-45, Vance Dillon 1-0.