City High upsets No. 2 West, 14-7, to win back The Boot

IOWA CITY – A recovery, a run, a stand and The Boot. Exactly in that order for Iowa City High.

Xavier Washpun's 14-yard touchdown with 3:18 left was enough to push the Little Hawks to a 14-7 upset of Class 4A second-ranked Iowa City West in yet another exhilarating edition of the 'Battle of the Boot' Friday night before around 4,000 fans at Bates Field.

The ninth win in the last 10 games of this series for City High (6-1) wasn't secured until a desperation pass from do-everything quarterback Nate Boland fell incomplete in the end zone as time expired. Boland rolled right from the 6-yard line, didn't find an open receiver and attempted to reverse field before being trapped and throwing a lofted pass intended for double-covered Devin Raffensperger that wasn't close to being completed.

City High players immediately ran across the field to the West sideline to take back the boot trophy that belonged to the Trojans after a 44-0 beatdown in last season's game.

'You try not to overlook (other) teams, but this game has been marked on our schedule since day one,' said City High quarterback-safety Mitch Wieland, in the middle of a chaotic celebratory on-field scene. 'With all the (publicity) around Nate Boland, you know, he can have the flashy stats. All that matters is coming out on top and getting the boot back.'

'I'm so happy for these guys,' said City High Coach Dan Sabers. 'To go through a tough year last year, with everything that happened ... Man, they just came in and believed in themselves. It just makes me proud as hell.'

Wieland recovered a Micah Kelsay fumble at the West 29 with 6:10 to go in a 7-7 game. That came just three plays after West's Kevin Dowell had plopped on a City High fumble at the Trojans 16.

Washpun pounded up the middle for three yards on a 4th-and-1 play, then broke loose on 3rd-and-4 off the right side of an unbalanced City High line for his winning TD. The Mississippi Valley Conference's top rusher finished with 111 yards on 27 carries.

West (6-1) took over at its 30 and reached midfield easily. Boland then rolled left and threw back across the field for a big 28-yard pass play to Anthony Batie that brought the ball to the City High 27.

On 4th-and-10 at the 13 with 14 seconds remaining, Boland threw a perfect pass to a diving Batie inside the 1-yard line near the left front corner of the end zone. Boland spiked the ball to stop the clock with 5.5 left.

A huge false-start penalty took the ball back to the 6, setting up the final play.

'I was on the left side, trying to defend everyone, then I saw him turn around,' said City High linebacker Ivan Diaz. 'I started sprinting my ass off trying to get to him.'

'Obviously you had to contain Nate there,' Wieland said. 'We knew he was going to try to make a play. He almost did.'

Boland threw for 107 yards and ran for 153 more, including a 79-yard cutback scramble in the third quarter that gave West a 1st-and-goal at the City High 8. The Trojans got the football to the 1 but incurred an illegal-shift penalty on what appeared to be a Kelsay touchdown on fourth down.

West Coach Brian Sauser eschewed a go-ahead field-goal attempt, and Boland ended up sacked for a loss of 14 yards by Conner Danielson.

'If you'd have told me we were only going to score 14, I'd have said 'Oh, man,'' Sabers said. 'You never know. That's why they play the game.'

Wieland's 7-yard touchdown run opened the scoring in the first quarter. West immediately responded with a 67-yard drive capped by Kelsay's 4-yard scoring run.

Both teams missed field goals, West at the end of the first half and City High in the fourth quarter. City High's ground-and-pound approach kept West's high-flying offense (averaging 41.5 points) off the field and out of rhythm a lot of this game, yet the Trojans won the yardage battle, 357-288.

West also enjoyed an advantage in depth, considering many of City High's players went both ways. But that ended up not making any difference, either.

'Last year was an unreal amount of motivation for us,' Wieland said. 'We had something to prove."

Here are the game statistics:

IC City High 14, IC West 7

AT BATES FIELD

TEAM STATISTICS

IC West

IC City High

First downs

15

19

Rushes-yards

38 - 250

52 - 234

Passing yards

135

54

Comp-Att-Int

8 - 15 - 0

4 - 9 - 0

Total yards

388

288

Fumbles-lost

2 - 1

3 - 1

Punts-average

3 - 29.3

1 - 53.0

Penalties-yards

8 - 50

1 - 5

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing:  IC West – Nate Boland 16-153 , Micah Kelsey 16-85 , Devin Raffensperger 5-17 , Team 1--5  IC City High – Xavier Washpun 27-111 , Mitch Wieland 11-40 , Ivan Diaz 3-34 , Bryson Runge 5-27 , Jake Leohr 6-22 , -

Passing:  IC West – Nate Boland 8-15-0-107  IC City High – Mitch Wieland 3-8-0-37 , Jake Leohr 1-1-0-17

Receiving:  IC West – Anthony Batie 6-79 , Tyler Eads 1-16 , Oliver Martin 1-12  IC City High – Jake Leohr 1-26 , Xavier Washpun 1-24 , Ivan Diaz 1-4

SCORE BY QUARTERS

IC West

7

–

7

IC City High

7

7

–

14

SCORING SUMMARY

ICH-Mitch Wieland 7 run (Drew Cornwell kick)

ICW-Micah Kelsey 4 run (Connor Gordon kick)

ICH-Xavier Washpun 14 run (Cornwell kick)