Despite loss, City High getting better

IOWA CITY - The City High football team fell to 0-2 after losing their home opener last Friday to the Bettendorf Bulldogs. 44-7.

Bettendorf was ranked No. 3 in Class 4A at the time, and the Little Hawks were coming off a loss to now second-ranked Cedar Falls.

'Well, you know, we knew our schedule was going to be tough, and it was indeed that,” head coach Dan Sabers said.

City High received the opening kickoff, and on a fourth down on its own 20, attempted a fake punt, which was unsuccessful. Bettendorf scored a field goal off the good field position.

'I take full responsibility for that,” Sabers said. 'I thought we had something, it wasn't quite there, they made a good play.”

Bettendorf expanded its lead to 10-0 with about five minutes left in the first quarter, but City came back with a 61-yard catch and run by senior Jason Jones. Jones hauled in the touchdown pass from junior backup quarterback Jared Taylor.

Bettendorf got the lead back up to 10 with a 71-yard touchdown run. It would remain 17-7 until the third quarter, when Jack Wells of Bettendorf jumped in front of a City High pass, picking it off and taking it back 97 yards. After a fumble on a handoff on the ensuing City High possession, Bettendorf's Dax Emerson went in for another touchdown to make it 31-7.

Bettendorf tacked on two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter to win the game, 44-7.

One thing the Little Hawks struggled with was turnovers. They had six fumbles - they only ended up losing one - but also had the failed fake punt, multiple interceptions and a blocked punt.

'We gotta take care of the football,” Sabers said. 'Coach has got to stop calling fake punts, things like that. That's number one.

'I think we got better than we were last week, I know the score, but I don't give a rip about the score right now. I just think that we did a lot of things, defensively, I thought we played with more intensity. We did some things well offensively at times. So you know, there are some things there. James Martinez-Burney, I thought, ran well. So, there are some positives there.”

The Little Hawks play at Ames on Friday to coincide with the Iowa-Iowa State game on Saturday.

'We'll be a better football team next week then we were this week, I really believe that, and if we do that, we're on good course,” Sabers said.

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