2011 IHSAA Football, Week 3

Tonight was the annual Battle for the Boot between Iowa City High and Iowa City West, and it appeared on paper to be the first competitive edition in a while. City High has dominated the series the past couple years, but West was bringing its veteran squad and D-I talented QB to Bates Field. My gut feeling was the same it always is when the Little Hawks and Trojans meet on the gridiron: West would win.

Fortunately, that did not happen.

City High basically romped, 42-24. It was 28-3 at halftime. West High shot themselves in the foot on every scoring opportunity. After recovering a blocked punt inside the Little Hawk 10 or 15, the Trojans could not move the ball and missed a field goal attempt. Later on, West was once again inside the City High 20 and lost the ball on a fumble. The Trojans’ QB was a major offensive threat, but they could not find the end zone until the second half, when the game was out of hand and they started drives inside the City High red zone after four blocked punts.

That’s right: the Little Hawks suffered something like five blocked punts. One punt was, I think, punted into the ass of the offensive line, but it does not matter. The fact is the Little Hawks need to work on their punting game. Head coach Dan Sabers apparently does not like to punt. He prefers to pooch kick with the QB, or fake it. Anything but line up in a proper punt formation with the punter dropped back at a relatively safe distance. It did not hurt them this game, but it could in the future. It did last year in the 4A championship game, when the Little Hawks turned the ball over on downs against Dowling. On the ensuing drive, Dowling scored to tie the game and force OT.

But the story tonight was the Little Hawk running game. City High’s bruising running back, Ronald Thompson, amassed a school-record 362 yards rushing. That is insane. Insane. Having been there in person, I thought he at least eclipsed 200 yards. But 362? Damn. The stat was announced before the end of the game and everyone looked at each other and said, “Holy shit!” The Little Hawk O-line was playing physical and pushing the Trojans five yards back after every snap. West bottled Thompson occasionally, but he eventually found a seam and broke it open.

So the famous golden boot stays on the east side, where it has resided all but one year since it was won back my senior year. I should write about that later.