Iowa City Liberty pulls away from Cedar Rapids Jefferson, clinches No. 1 seed in Class 5A playoffs

CEDAR RAPIDS — Scott Chandler was pleased, but knows that the playoffs are a whole different deal.

The first-year Iowa City Liberty head football coach saw his team put up over 550 yards of total offense in Friday's night 70-33 win over Cedar Rapids Jefferson at Kingston Stadium.

Liberty moved to 8-1 on the season and will be the No. 1 seed when the Class 5A playoffs start next Friday after previously unbeaten Bettendorf fell to Iowa City High.

“That seed is a testament to how hard our kids have worked, how determined they have been,” Chandler said. “To come back from being a team that didn't even make the playoffs last year to now being a No. 1 seed is quite an accomplishment.”

Jefferson needed a win to have any shot at making the field and through the first two quarters, the J-Hawks looked like they might end up being spoilers. Freshman Tyree Turner scooped up a fumble on Liberty's first possession and raced 18 yards for a score.

“We obviously got off to a bad start, giving them that touchdown on the fumble to start the game,” Chandler said. “(Jefferson) has a lot of playmakers on the outside, a lot of good athletes.”

As they have done all season, Liberty responded. Junior quarterback Reece Rettig got the offense going, capping off the next drive with an 8-yard run. He threw two scoring passes before the end of the quarter and the Lightning needed every one as Jefferson got scores from Vernon Benda and Dawins Charles, leaving the Liberty lead at 21-20 entering the second quarter.

Rettig continued his magic in the second quarter. The junior connected on two more scoring strikes as Liberty built a 42-27 lead and never looked back after halftime.

For the game, Rettig connected on 16 of 26 passes for 285 yards. Owen Drapeaux led a balanced rushing attack with 82 yards.

The game was a reunion of sorts for the head coaches. Chandler and Jefferson’s Ed Miles were teammates during the mid-2000s with the Iowa Hawkeyes with both going on to play in the NFL.

Chandler knows just how much work Miles has put in to make the J-Hawks a winning team in 2024.

“I'm proud of my guy Ed Miles and the job he has done here, making these guys competitive,” he said. “They hadn't won much when he came in here and he's made them into a winning program.”

Benda, the J-Hawks junior quarterback had a solid game, throwing for 267 yards. Sophomore Osten Robertson had six catches for 172 yards and a touchdown.

Iowa City Liberty 70, Cedar Rapids Jefferson 33

(At Kingston Stadium)

ICL CRJ

First downs 29 11

Rushes-yards 37-258 18-19

Passing yards 313 267

Comp-Att-Int 18-29-0 14-34-3

Punts-Avg. 2-32.5 2-32.0

Fumbles-lost 1-1 0-0

Penalties-Yards 9-97 16-129

IC Liberty 21 21 14 14 — 70

CR Jefferson 20 7 6 0 — 33

CRJ — Tyree Turner 18 fumble return (kick blocked)

ICL — Reece Rettig 8 run (Collin Weis kick)

CRJ — Vernon Benda 2 run (Lilli Ulrich kick)

ICL — Collin Decker 9 pass from Rettig (Weis kick)

CRJ — Dawins Charles 3 run (Ulrich kick)

ICL — Sutton Koller 85 pass from Rettig (Weis kick)

ICL — Decker 17 pass from Rettig (Weis kick)

CRJ — Dayten Guy 32 pass from Benda (Ulrich kick)

ICL — Owen Drapeaux 5 run (Weis kick)

ICL — Dallas Miller 39 pass from Rettig (Weis kick)

ICL — Landon Bell recovers fumble in the end zone (Weis kick)

ICL — Charles Roberts 4 run (Weis kick)

CRJ — Osten Robertson 13 pass from Benda (run failed)

ICL — Koller 4 run (Weis kick)

ICL — Brody Beaver 4 (Weis kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING - IC Liberty: Owen Drapeaux 12-82, Reece Rettig 5-27, Sutton Koller 6-60, Brody Beaver 6-55, Dallas Miller 1-7, Charles Roberts 6-18, Collin Decker 1-7. CR Jefferson: Ishara Kalolero 1-0, Vernon Benda 4-20, Uweza Kalolero 7-(minus-6), Dawins Charles 2-21, Bertin Gisubizo 1-5, Team 1-(minus 19) .

PASSING - IC Liberty: Reece Rettig 16-26-0-285, Emerson Berner 1-2-0-12, Dallas Miller 1-1-0-15. CR Jefferson: Vernon Benda 14-34-3 267.

RECEIVING - IC Liberty: Dallas Miller 5-97, Sutton Koller 4-143, Collin Decker 3-36, Landon Bell 2-6, Jordan Schroeder 2-6, Reece Rettig 1-15, Mason Waterbury 1-12. CR Jefferson: Dayten Guy 4-58, Osten Robertson 6-172, Jermaine Robinson 1-16, Lucas Ranard 2-25, Uweza Kalolero 1-18.