The Boot heads to the westside as Iowa City West blanks Iowa City High, 30-0, Friday night

IOWA CITY – The Boot is going back to the west side for the first time in awhile.

Iowa City West’s football team simply overpowered Iowa City High, its biggest rival, Friday night at City High’s Bates Field, 30-0. The Boot traveling trophy that goes to the winner of this annual game returns to Melrose Avenue for the first time since 2020.

City High held it the previous four years, including winning last season’s game on a touchdown and two-point conversion in the final minute, 40-39. There were no such dramatics here.

Not even close. Just a good old fashioned whoopin’.

“I don’t really get nervous, but, I mean, this game was just a little bit different,” said West all-state lineman Colin Whitters. “I’ve been thinking about this ever since our schedule came out. I tried not think about City right away, but that’s really all I could think about. Whenever I’d see the color red, I just wanted to rip someone’s head off.”

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“Thanks for bringing that up,” said West Coach Garrett Hartwig, when 2024 was mentioned. “Every year is different. My heart still breaks for the seniors that lost that game last year. But I feel like as a program, we play for the guys that came before you and you certainly cheer for each other every night. This is for all the Trojans out there tonight.”

Adam Salem kicked three field goals, including one to open the scoring and one to end the first half. There were a couple of long pass plays from quarterback Reece Wheeler to Ethan Headings that set up scores.

But West’s absolute dominance running the football was the difference. Well, that and a defense that played off the Trojans’ ball-hoggish offensive ways.

Juju Manson, Campbell Janis and Mikey Moody all had short-ish touchdown runs. Janis, a senior running back, finished with 110 yards on 19 carries.

It really helps to have a guy up front like Whitters, the senior left guard and University of Iowa commit. West went left side a lot.

But you’ve got to give it up to the other offensive linemen, too: left tackle Lowden Van Daele, center James Barnett, right guard Lucas Leiva Benitez and right tackle Jordi Zioka. West rotated quarterbacks, with Moody providing more of a threat running and Wheeler more passing.

“We just did a good job up front,” Whitters said. “I couldn’t have done it without my tackle James, Lowden, Benitez, Jordi, all those guys. And Campbell Janis is an animal. We’ve got some animals ... Then the defense, a goose egg, baby. This whole game, not much more you can ask for.”

West had 251 yards rushing on 52 attempts and 386 total yards. City High, which never got into the red zone, finished with just 164 total yards.

“We had a shutout, so we’re going to get donuts tomorrow,” said West receiver-linebacker Juju Manson, also an Iowa commit. “I’m excited about that.”

Those will come courtesy of defensive coordinator Tyler Meade.

“This is really big for us,” Manson said. “We talked about it that it was more about us than it was about them. We had to just do our thing, read our keys and execute. Be physical and dominate. And I think we did exactly that.”

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Iowa City West 30, Iowa City High 0

Iowa City West 10 3 14 3-30

Iowa City High 0 0 0 0-0

Team Statistics

First Downs - Iowa City West 21, Iowa City High 10. Rushes-Yards - Iowa City West 52-251, Iowa City High 33-101. Attempts-Completions-Interceptions-Passing Yards - Iowa City West 8-15-0-135, Iowa City High 12-21-1-63. Total Yards - Iowa City West 386, Iowa City High 164. Punts-Average - Iowa City West 2-30.0, Iowa City High 2-33.5. Penalties-Yards - Iowa City West 4-40, Iowa City High 4-30. Fumbles-Lost - Iowa City West 2-0, Iowa City High 0-0.

Individual Statistics

RUSHING - Iowa City West: Campbell Janis 19-110, Mikey Moody 14-53, Reece Wheeler 7-34, Adrian DeWaard 7-32, Kingston Ross 3-11, Juju Manson 1-7, Ashten Holmes 1-4. Iowa City High: Marshall Sheldon 12-88, Jack Lampe 1-16, Dominic Roe 4-12, Tytearion Carruthers 2-7, Coden Kurtz 3-6, Damari Lacy 2-4, Blaine Heick 1-(minus) 5, Chris Kabaiza 8-(minus) 27.

PASSING - Iowa City West: Reece Wheeler 7-13-0-139, Mikey Moody 1-2-0-(minus) 4. Iowa City High: Chris Kabaiza 10-17-0-50, Coden Kurtz 2-4-1-13.

RECEIVING - Iowa City West: Ethan Headings 4-89, Henry Elser 2-52, Juju Manson 1-(minus) 2, Carter Spark 1-(minus) 4. Iowa City High: Chayse Newton 5-20, Jack Lampe 2-14, Damari Lacy 2-13, Marshall Sheldon 1-9, Blaine Heick 1-4, Dominic Roe 1-3.

Comments: (319)-398-8258, jeff.johnson@thegazette.com