Cedar Falls ends City High's championship-game run, 21-7

CEDAR FALLS - The Class 4A state championship football game could still include an Iowa City school. But for the first time in three years, it won't be City High.

Barkley Hill powered his way to 147 yards rushing and a pair of touchdowns and sixth-ranked Cedar Falls bottled up the No. 9 Little Hawks defensively in a 21-7 4A second-round win Monday night at the UNI-Dome.

City High (8-3) won the 4A title in 2009 and finished second last season, a great run. But the shot at a three-peat disappeared because of a Cedar Falls team that has recovered nicely from its only loss at the end of the regular season.

The Tigers (10-1) play at Cedar Rapids Washington in a Friday night quarterfinal. Iowa City West also is still alive on the bottom side of the Eastern Iowa bracket.

"Our senior class has done an awful lot for us," said City High Coach Dan Sabers. "They had 21 victories over the last two years, the state finals. They wore a big target on their backs throughout that whole ride. They've done a lot of good things."

Cedar Falls completely contained City High's power running game, holding the Little Hawks to 43 total yards in the first half and building a 14-0 halftime edge. Leading rusher Ronald Thompson was held to 18 yards in the opening half, finishing with 79 on 17 carries.

The only real yards came on the edge, as quarterback Jasper Washington had a team-high 114 yards rushing on 20 carries. He struggled again trying to throw the football, however, completing just 4 of 15 passes for 20 yards.

Cedar Falls added an extra defensive lineman in the game, playing man coverage in the secondary, daring City High to throw. But it couldn't, its Achilles heel this season.

Washington completed just 33 of 75 throws, though his TD-to-interception ratio was an outstanding 7-to-1.

"There's no question, that's not our strength," Sabers said. "They got up early, and it became very clear in the second half that they said 'Hey, we're running the football, we're going to eat clock.'"

Iowa State-bound tailback Hill earned his yardage, carrying the ball 32 times, including TDs of eight yards in the first half and 16 in the second. Alabama-bound track star James Harrington set up all three of his team's scores with long, leaping catches of passes from backup quarterback Grant Grainger.

He is subbing for injured regular Ike Boettger, who is out for the season. Harrington's receptions totaled 96 yards.

Brayden Longnecker had a six-yard touchdown run on the second play of the second quarter to give CF a 14-0 lead that seemed at the time and turned out to be more than enough points. City High averted the shutout on Washington's five-yard TD run in garbage time.

"I thought we tackled Hill pretty well and held him down," Sabers said.

Here is the game boxscore:

TEAM STATISTICS

Iowa City High

Cedar Falls

First downs

11

13

Rushes-yards

39 - 193

46 - 169

Passing yards

20

97

Comp-Att-Int

4 - 15 - 0

5 - 11 - 0

Total yards

213

266

Fumbles-lost

4 - 1

1 - 1

Punts-average

4 - 49.5

6 - 41.7

Penalties-yards

4 - 20

4 - 40

Rushing:

 Iowa City High –

Jasper Washington 20-114 ,

Ronald Thompson 17-79 ,

Amos Lavela 1-2 ,

Team 1--2

 Cedar Falls –

Barkley Hill 32-147 ,

Jake Buck 1-10 ,

Nick Clark 4-8 ,

Brayden Longnecker 5-5 ,

Ben Challgren 2-3 ,

Team 2--4

Passing:

 Iowa City High –

Jasper Washington 4-15-0-20

 Cedar Falls –

Grant Grainger 5-9-0-97 ,

Brayden Longnecker 0-1-0-0 ,

Team 0-1-0-0

Receiving:

 Iowa City High –

Jeremy Johnson 1-19 ,

Amos Lavela 1-3 ,

Ronald Thompson 1--2

 Cedar Falls –

James Harrington 3-96 ,

Barkley Hill 1-3 ,

Jake Gallu 1--3

Iowa City High

7

–

7

Cedar Falls

14

7

–

21

CF-Brayden Longnecker 6 run (Jacob Fagersten kick)

CF-Barkley Hill 8 run (Fagersten kick)

CF-Hill 16 run (Fagersten kick)

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ICH-Jasper Washington 5 run (Drew Cornwell kick)