During last year’s match up at West, City High ran off with the game from the very start, beating Iowa City West 49-0 in dominating fashion. But this time around, with a lot more injuries on both sides and a lot of newer faces that didn’t play in last year’s Battle for the Boot rivalry, the outcome seemed to be a lot closer than last year’s shutout victory.

For City High, it all starts with quarterback. After losing their starting quarterback during a Week 2 match up vs. rivals Iowa City Liberty, senior QB Drew Larson suffered a broken thumb that would sideline him from playing QB for the rest of the year. Junior quarterback Bobby Bacon ‘25 hadn’t started a game up until last week vs. Ames at the varsity level.

“I feel like mentally I was ready. I just knew I had to step up and make big plays,” Bacon said.

Bacon didn’t let up in his second career start, leading City High to a 23-8 win where he threw over 250 yards and completed 75% of his passes.

Another key player who contributed to this win was newcomer senior running back Miles Parlet ‘24, who had 36 carries for 220 yards on the ground.

“He brings a lot of speed and toughness week in and [week] out for our offense,’’ Bacon said when asked about starting running back Miles Parlet.

Another group of note who contributed to the win against West was the City High defense, which, after giving up 28 points to Ames last week, shut out West High for the whole first half of the game while ending the night with 4 interceptions and holding the Trojans to only 8 points.

The Little Hawks play this Friday, the 22nd, hosting Cedar Rapids Kennedy for their City homecoming game.