West, City High travel east for top-10 victories

Matthew Huff's fourth-quarter score capped a second-half surge by Iowa City West, which hung on to defeat Muscatine, 31-27, Friday night at Muscatine Community Stadium.

The Trojans (2-0) outscored Muscatine 21-7 after halftime, led by a balanced offensive attack with Evan Flitz throwing for 206 yards and a touchdown on 19 of 28 passing and rushing for 44 yards and another score. Huff scored with 4:49 left in the game and the Trojans were able to hold Muscatine on the next drive to seal the win.

Huff finished with 112 yards on 21 rushes.

'Everybody knows our receivers, but our team knows that we can run the ball just as well,” Iowa City West Coach Garrett Hartwig said. 'The guys up front work hard and are the quiet, strong type of linemen, and Matthew Huff has been waiting a long time for this opportunity and he's got a great guy behind him in Andre White.”

Oliver Martin hauled in a 40-yard touchdown pass from Flitz with 1:29 left in the third quarter, one of eight catches for 109 yards, becoming Iowa City West's all-time leading receiver in the process.

The Trojans were able to battle back from a 20-10 deficit at halftime, keyed by two touchdowns from Muscatine's Alphonso Soko, who ran for 124 total yards on 24 carries. Luke Wichers threw for 295 yards on 21 for 26 passing. Receiver Drew Greenhaw pulled in 12 catches for 230 yards and a second-quarter touchdown for the Muskies.

Muscatine's Jackson Foulk scored on a 1-yard touchdown run following a 75-yard pass from Wichers to Greenhaw with 9:41 left in the fourth quarter, but West methodically moved down the field for the answer and Huff's eventual game-winning touchdown run.

- Jake Ryder, Muscatine Journal

CITY HIGH 19, PLEASANT VALLEY 17

- For the second time in less than 12 months, City High came into Spartan Stadium and walked away with victory.

And on both occasions, Coach Dan Sabers' squad followed the same blueprint.

The Little Hawks buckled down defensively in the red zone and their offense did enough to survive a 19-17 contest against the Spartans.

'Our defense always finds a way to step it up,” said tailback Bryce Frantz, who rushed for 93 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the second half. 'We're just a team that is resilient and just tries to refuse to lose.

'We just found a way to get it done tonight.”

The Little Hawks ousted the Spartans from the second round of the playoffs last season, 13-7. Once again, this was a defensive slugfest.

PV had the ball inside City High territory on all four possessions in the first half, but the Spartans mustered just a field goal.

'It took a little while for us to get adjusted, but then they did a pretty darn good job,” Sabers said of his defense. 'We tackled well.”

City High's offense discovered itself in the second half.

After just three first-half points, quarterback Nate Wieland threw for 134 yards in the closing two quarters. The Little Hawks pieced together a 10-play, 69-yard drive in the fourth quarter to build a 19-10 cushion, capped by Frantz's 3-yard touchdown run.

City High (2-0) converted a critical 4th-and-2 at PV's 43 to extend that series.

'We really stepped it up in the second half,” Frantz said. 'In the locker room at half, we lit a fire under our linemens' butt. We had to finish plays. We put some plays together and really started to click as an offense.”

Arthur Braden led PV (1-1) with 148 rushing yards.

- Matt Coss, Quad City Times