City High shows why it's No. 1 against defending champion Linn-Mar

MARION — Handshakes were exchanged, a final word came from the coach, and then the City High boys soccer team raced across the field at Linn-Mar to greet student fans who traveled up I-380 to raise the roof for their top-ranked team.

And why not? The Little Hawks stunned defending Class 3A champion Linn-Mar, 4-0, on a cold, windy Friday night more reminiscent of fall football. City improved to 14-0 overall and 11-0 in the MVC and faces No. 3 Iowa City West on Tuesday.

Anyone who thought City High might be distracted by its upcoming match against its archrival knew differently just 70 seconds into the game when Jackson Meyer dribbled down the left side, escaped two defenders and fired in a sharply angled shot for the first goal.

'(Coach) was telling me to take a shot and I couldn't find one so I tried to beat (the defender) and put it in,' Meyer said. 'Luckily it went off the post.'

The Little Hawks added a second goal on a set piece off a free kick from 25 yards out. Mitch McCarthy started and finished the piece.

'It's actually something we were drawing up right before the game,' McCarthy said. 'I kicked it to Jonah Dancer and he played it to Henry Mosher, and it came back to me and I just put it in the net. I think (Mosher) tried for the goal, and it came back to me. One way or another we put it in the net.'

Meanwhile City's defense was able to keep Linn-Mar (12-4, 8-3) from mounting sustained attacks. It was hard for the Lions to connect on more than a couple passes at a time before City intervened.

'That was our game plan, as soon as we'd lose the ball we had to get it back right away,' City's Collin O'Meara said.

The Lions' best chance came in the 38th minute when all-stater Jack Ramsey blasted a shot from 10 yards out that City keeper Sam Tomek somehow punched away.

'They have a very special player in Leroy (Enzugusi),' O'Meara said. 'Our whole defensive game plan was to stop him, stop them from feeding him the ball, stop him from getting the ball and turning so he could attack.'

The Little Hawks put the game away with a third goal when Meyer crossed the ball to Nasim Salih. The keeper had been drawn out of the goal, and Salih put the ball in the net. City added a final goal after Salih was fouled in the box, and Victor Brown-Rodriguez knocked in the PK.

'We knew this was going to be a competitive game and the competition drove us; we were playing our hearts out,' Meyer said.