West rolls past City High in Battle for the Boot

IOWA CITY — Iowa City West Coach Garrett Hartwig had a tall task in front of him entering his first season as head coach of the Trojan football team this year.

The offense lost eight starters, including stars Anthony Batie and Nate Boland. With the switch to District football, their non-district schedule was loaded. West (2-2) came into last night's Battle for the Boot against Iowa City High riding back-to-back losses to No. 7 West Des Moines Valley and No. 3 Cedar Rapids Washington.

But in their rivalry game, the Trojan offense came to play and wore down the Little Hawks (0-4) for a 30-6 win, avenging the 14-7 loss from a year before.

'It's very special — any time you beat City High is great,' Hartwig said. 'When you play well against them, you know your program is headed in the right direction because of their ability.

'The guys, they deserve every minute of this, and I'm proud of them.'

West came roaring out of the gate to start the game, flying to the ball on defense and methodically marching down the field on offense.

Spreading out the run game between running back Yeshuwa Hicks and end-around misdirection plays from Tyler Eads had City High on its heels. The Trojans used three long drives to go up 17-0 at the end of the first quarter, and the game was essentially over from there.

The Little Hawks only managed 82 yards of total offense in the first half, 76 of which came on the final drive of the half. But even with that long drive, they couldn't get points on the board, having the half-ending field goal try blocked.

Then, in the third quarter, West ran two fake punts on the same drive that were both converted for first downs.

It was an endlessly frustrating night for everyone in red, especially Coach Dan Sabers, who managed an exasperated smile after the game.

'Defensively, that first quarter was, frankly, pretty hard to look at. We were out of position, a couple times we didn't have enough players on the field. It was really frustrating,' Sabers said. 'We've got to prepare better. That's for everybody. All you've got to do is watch it and you can see it didn't look like we were prepared very well. We've got to prepare better.'

West quarterback Aaron Bleil had a solid night for the Trojans, finishing 11 of 19 for 136 yards and two touchdowns. Eads had eight carries for 76 yards and one touchdown, almost exclusively from the end-around play.

The Trojan defense also intercepted Little Hawks' quarterback Nate Wieland twice — both in the second half — once by John Milani and the other by Oliver Martin. Martin excelled, as he has all year, at receiver with six catches for 128 yards — three catches were 28 yards or more — and two touchdowns.

All who stepped up for West were guys who had to take bigger roles this season after the loss of so many to graduation. And though there's a long way to go this season as the Trojans enter District play, stepping up to get a win against an archrival is exactly what Hartwig and his assistants wanted to see out of their players.

'We've played some very good teams that exposed mistakes, but we kept working,' Hartwig said. 'We came in with a ton of new starters on offense and our schedule was incredibly tough. It's experience and sticking to what we do. The credit goes to the kids, and I applaud what they've done.

'At the same time, this is one win, and it's not a district win. We've got work to do on Thursday at Davenport.'

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