Just like last time: City High prevails

IOWA CITY -- One was for the divisional lead. The other was for playoff survival.

The results were strikingly similar.

"Scarily similar, in a lot of ways," said Iowa City Coach Dan Sabers.

Andrew McNulty rushed for three touchdowns and passed for another -- a 56-yard back-breaker to Connor Alberhasky with 3:44 left -- and second-ranked Iowa City High outdueled No. 9 Linn-Mar, 43-27, in a Class 4A second-round football playoff Monday night at Bates Field.

The Little Hawks (11-0) ran their winning streak to 25 games. Ran it, literally.

City High netted 413 yards of total offense, including 314 yards on 59 rushing plays.

"Our offensive line was dominating," McNulty said. "We were able to run our whole scheme of things."

Linn-Mar (8-3) got within 29-27 on Mark Atwater's 11-yard TD pass to Jer Garman with 5:32 to go. And when the Little Hawks were facing third-and-19 at their own 44, things were looking a bit dicey.

But McNulty hit Alberhasky deep for the clincher.

"We had a little mismatch there," and Alberhasky came up big," McNulty said. "We knew we needed a big play, and he made a great catch."

That made it 36-27, and Linn-Mar's dim hopes were dashed when the Lions didn't retrieve a bloop of a kickoff. City's Quinn McNutt recovered at the Linn-Mar 18, and the Little Hawks tacked on another touchdown on McNulty's 1-yarder with 1:43 to play.

City High had touchdown drives of 89, 83 and 82 yards. The Little Hawks ran 69 plays, compared to 48 for Linn-Mar.

"We just didn't make enough plays," said Linn-Mar Coach Bob Forsyth. "We knew we had to make some stops. We didn't make as many plays as they did."

The Little Hawks converted three fourth downs, twice on fake punts when McNulty ran for first downs.

"It was available there if needed," he said. "We executed it perfectly twice."

City High beat Linn-Mar, 47-32, in Week 8, a victory that wrapped up the MVC Mississippi Division title. This one was a virtual carbon copy. Linn-Mar hung tough, but City prevailed late.

"They're a great team," Sabers said. "If they were in a different bracket, they'd probably still be playing."

City High will face the Muscatine-Cedar Falls winner Friday. The Little Hawks would host Cedar Falls or travel to Muscatine.

Linn-Mar led 7-0 and 14-7, then City High took the lead for good at 15-14 on McNulty's 3-yard TD run and Ronald Thompson's 2-point conversion with 6:21 left in the second quarter.

Cedric Readus' 22-yard run made it 21-14 late in the first half, and that's how it stood at intermission.

Atwater's 15-yard scoring run brought the Lions within 21-20 (Linn-Mar missed the conversion), then Garman's catch made it 29-27.

But each time the Lions got close, the Little Hawks pushed them back to arm's length.

Readus rushed for 135 yards on 21 carries, and McNulty ran for 100 yards and passed for 99.

Garman ended a brilliant career -- one that netted more than 4,000 yards -- with 90 yards on 13 carries. Atwater passed for 142 yards and ran for 78.

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