Central City blanks Cedar Valley Christian

CEDAR RAPIDS - In the spirit of the baseball pennant race, the Central City Wildcats pitched a shutout in an impressive, 42-0, rout of Cedar Valley Christian Friday night in an eight-man prep football game at LaSalle Middle School.

Coming off back-to-back losses against ranked opponents, Central City (2-2) came in to Friday night's game battle tested.

'Our guys fought through a lot tonight in order to get the win,” said first-year coach Mike Miers. 'The last two weeks we played some top-10 teams, and that showed in the scores. But, the things the average person didn't see is how much we've improved. And it showed tonight.”

Cedar Valley Christian (1-2) opened the game with an impressive drive, but a 6-yard touchdown run was negated following a false-start penalty. From there, Central City's defense smothered the Huskies.

'We have a great pass rush,” Miers said. 'It helps when we can just rush three and drop five back into coverage.”

The Wildcats also displayed their offensive balance as senior quarterback A.J. Lucas strolled in from one yard out to cap Central City's opening 72-yard drive.

Then, versatile sophomore back Wade McKinney punched it in from 15 yards out, just two plays after making a 40-yard reception. McKinney's first score gave Central City a 16-0 lead.

On the next possession, the Wildcats showed a new offensive package by using a different quarterback, Blake Willenborg. Willenborg proceeded to throw a 15-yard strike to Klein Walker to cap a 47-yard drive.

'A.J. and Blake both have different skill sets and do great things,” Miers said. 'I think using them both allows us to be a more complete offense and puts more pressure on the defense.”

McKinney then closed the door on the first half with a second rushing TD, this one coming from three yards out. McKinney's score gave Central City a commanding, 30-0, lead at the break.

'Our line really did their job tonight and so did our quarterbacks,” McKinney said. 'Our hard work in practice showed tonight.”

Central City added a score early in the third quarter as A.J. Lucas found Sam Hull for a 2-yard TD giving the Wildcats a 36-0 lead. McKinney then added his third TD of the game to round out the scoring.