Iowa City High bounces back with 77-0 win

CEDAR RAPIDS — Following a difficult night at Kinnick Stadium, Iowa City High took out its frustrations at Kingston Stadium.

The Little Hawks used a big-play offense and collected three defensive touchdowns as they ran past Cedar Rapids Jefferson, 77-0, on Friday night.

“We’re always going to have to play with an edge,” City High Coach Mitchell Moore said. “We’re going to be undersized, we’re going to be fast, we’re going to have a little bit of swagger. That’s how we play, that’s how we practice. That’s our style of football.

“I didn’t think we had that last week. We talked about that all week. Getting that confidence back.”

A week after falling to rival Iowa City Liberty, the Little Hawks (1-1) found the scoreboard quickly against the J-Hawks. Quarterback Drew Larson faked a handoff and took it 30 yards up the middle for the game’s opening points, capping a four-play, 50-yard drive 1:16 into the contest.

For the J-Hawks (0-2), it was another opportunity to try to jump start a program. Battling participation issues last season, the J-Hawks sideline is in a much stronger place this year, but the results have yet to come. The Little Hawks front four gave the young J-Hawks fits. Facing third-and-long on their first possession, the J-Hawks looked to set up a screen. Jeremiah Peiffer’s pass was picked off by Sam Kueter, who returned it 28 yards for a touchdown.

On their next possession, Peiffer lost the ball on a scramble. Dax Judge picked it up for a 28-yard scoop-and-score as City High raced to a 20-0 lead with 8:27 remaining in the first quarter.

Once the Little Hawks got the ball back, they didn’t hold it for long. Larson found Ben Kueter with a short pass. Kueter picked up a pair of blocks and outran the defense for a 70-yard touchdown.

The Little Hawks ended the first quarter up 27-0 despite of committing seven penalties for 60 yards. They finished the night racking up 14 flags.

“Those (flags) were flying,” Moore said. “We play aggressive, we play fast. I’d much rather have that then playing not fast and aggressive like we were last week and really getting hit.”

City High piled on in the second quarter. Ronnie Major caught a pair of touchdown passes and added another on the ground.

With Peiffer under pressure, his attempted pitch was swatted out of the air by Kael Kurtz who picked it up and scored from 3 yards out. The Little Hawks entered halftime in front 56-0, outgaining the J-Hawks 277 to minus-16.

Larson finished his night 11 of 15 for 171 yards with a pair of touchdowns in the air and one on the ground.

“We were working all week on who we are as a team and our identity,” Kueter said. “We’ve seen what we can do now. The opponent is the opponent, but at the end of the day it’s us versus us.”

City High added three more touchdowns through the air in the second half, finishing the night with six combined touchdown passes.

The Little Hawks will host Ames next week in a battle for the Little Cy-Hawk Trophy.