Iowa City roundup: West upsets Bettendorf; City High cruises at North Scott

Iowa City West rattled Bettendorf with a little trickery Friday, but earned its 24-17 win over the Bulldogs its Class 4A prep football playoff opener at TouVelle Stadium with fundamental defense.

The Trojans' Trumell Roberts and Oliver Martin recovered Bettendorf fumbles in the final six minutes of the game as West (8-2) rallied from a 14-7 halftime deficit.

'We showed a lot of toughness, the way we fought from start to finish,' Trojans Coach Garrett Hartwig said.

Trummell's strip and short return of a fumbled pass reception by Ryan Fall with 5 minutes, 44 seconds remaining in a 17-17 game was followed by a 34-yard flea flicker to Martin that moved the Trojans to the Bulldogs' three-yard line. Three plays later, Devontae Lane scored the deciding points on a 6-yard pass from Evan Flitz with 4:19 to go.

Bettendorf (7-3) drove 43 yards before Martin recovered a Keegan Glaus fumble with 49 seconds remaining.

Flitz completed 14 of 21 passes, including a 66-yard strike to Austin West and a 50-yard pass to Travevis Buchanan to set up a pair of third-quarter scores by West.

A one-yard keeper by Flitz tied the game before Lucas Karwal hit a 20-yard field goal to move the Trojans to a 17-14 lead with 1:27 left in the quarter.

The Bulldogs, held to 93 yards in the second half, tied the game on a 33-yard Seth Ward field on the first play of the fourth quarter.

Martin scored West's first touchdown on a 10-yard catch on the Trojans' first possession of the game one snap after Lane hit Buchanan with a 64-yard pass.

— Steve Batterson, Quad City Times

CITY HIGH 40, NORTH SCOTT 14 — Gabriel Nkumu caught a 38-yard touchdown pass on a Hail Mary pass from Nate Wieland on the last play of the first half to spark the Little Hawks in Eldridge.

The Little Hawks (8-2) advance to play Cedar Rapids Washington in a quarterfinal on Friday at Kingston Stadium.

City was cruising along with an 18-0 lead in the second quarter when the Lancers (5-5) scored a pair of touchdowns to cut the lead to 18-14 and to gather some momentum just before half.

But Wieland scampered around just before the halftime buzzer and from roughly midfield chucked a pass toward the back of the end zone. Nkumu came down with his only catch of the game from the scrum of players.

It sent the Little Hawks into halftime with a 26-14 edge and left North Scott stunned.

'We gave up some big plays and our energy kind of died down after getting the lead,' Nkumu said. 'That play really boosted our energy a lot and it kind of carried us into the second half.'

The Little Hawks finally grabbed a comfortable lead when Wieland hit Zach Jones for an 8-yard touchdown pass with 47 seconds left in the third quarter to push the lead to 33-14. Jones also had an 89-yard punt return for a touchdown in the first quarter.

Bryce Frantz caught a 19-yard TD pass and ran another in from 14 yards out for the visitors. Besides his three touchdown passes, Wieland also had a TD on a 1-yard sneak.

— Chris James, Quad City Times