After being named conference champions in the regular season, The Little Hawks’ road to state was cut short by a 34-0 loss against Cedar Rapids Xavier during round two of the IHSAA playoffs. They finished their season with a winning record of 8-3.

“We were pretty disappointed,” Mack Stolley ‘14 said. “It’s hard to see your senior season come to an end.”

The Little Hawks improved from last year’s record of 4-6; the 2012 football season was riddled with injuries that played a large role in the poor record. This past season has been for the most part unaffected by injury up until the very end, with only a handful of key players injured in the last five games.

“Injuries affected us some,” Stolley said. “We hung together, and the next guys stepped up and did a great job.”

Major varsity players injured this year were offensive tackle Luke Posivio ‘14 out with a MCL injury, offensive tackle Jake Keil ‘14 with a hamstring injury, and tight end/punter Jake Leohr ‘14, out with a collarbone injury.

City’s running game was a large part of the offense this season, with running back Xavier Washpun ‘14 being the ninth Little Hawk in City High history to break 2,000 yards career rushing as well as 30 total touchdowns scored by rushing. The Little Hawks saw success in their passing game as well, with over 1,000 total passing yards, the majority by quarterback Mitch Wieland ‘14. Kicker Drew Cornwell ‘14 broke the state record for most career points scored by a kicker, the new state best is 230 points.

The Little Hawks started their season with a 13-14 loss against Cedar Falls, but went largely undefeated throughout the rest of the regular season, the only other loss coming from the regular season closer against Cedar Rapids Kennedy, 14-35.

A victory against cross-town rival Iowa City West during the regular season won the coveted Boot trophy back for City High, after West High won it in a 44-0 shutout during the 2012 season. City High beat rival West High this year 14-7, with an incomplete pass by Trojan quarterback Nate Boland as the factor preventing a second touchdown for West High.

Offensive lineman Ben Sindt ‘15 feels that City got the job done well this year.

“We came into the season with the goals of beating West and being conference champs, and we accomplished both of those goals,” he said.

City High made it through round one of IHSAA playoffs with a 24-19 win against Muscatine, but the combined loss of both original starting tackles, a starting cornerback, and the starting tight-end combined with the threat of division champion Cedar Rapids Xavier proved too much for the Little Hawks, in a 34-0 shutout loss during round two of playoffs.

The loss is nothing to be ashamed of, says Sindt.

“They’re probably one of the best defenses that an Iowa high school team has ever had,” he said, “The loss was disappointing, but we had a great season.”

With the 2013 season over, the preparation for 2014 will begin in a couple of weeks, and it can be expected that the low number of juniors out for football this year will cause an increased number of juniors to be on varsity next year. The sophomore team’s positive record of 5-4 is an improvement from their freshman record of 1-9, and is a promising prospect for the years to come.