CEDAR FALLS — By vanquishing Iowa City Liberty, 27-10, in the Class 5A state championship game, Dowling Catholic is back on top of the Iowa high school football world again.
To win the program’s first state title since 2019, the Maroons went wire-to-wire to take down the Lightning. Dowling Catholic running back Ian Middleton starred in the win with two touchdowns and 206 rushing yards. When the Lightning offense was on the field, a ferocious Maroons pass rush made life difficult with 11 tackles for loss, including four from defensive end Ryan Bobo.
“Tonight, we played our best game,” Middleton said. “It showed on the scoreboard.”
A heavy dose of Middleton got things going early for Dowling. The senior had seven carries for 50 yards on the first drive alone, including a 25-yard touchdown run to make it 7-0 with 4:40 remaining in the first quarter.
After stuffing an Iowa City Liberty fake punt, the Maroons took advantage of good field position to start the second quarter. A 34-yard run from Middleton helped set up a 22-yard field goal attempt, which was sent through the goal posts by Ryan Kuhn for a 10-0 lead with 8:28 left in the half.
Before the second quarter came to a close, Iowa City Liberty was able to get on the board with a 39-yard field goal from Collin Weiss to cut the deficit to 10-3. However, the storyline for the Lightning was the change at quarterback.
Starting signal caller Reece Rettig walked off the field slowly with an injury midway through the second quarter. Emerson Berner took over and went on to go 8-for-12 on passing attempts for 54 yards on two different drives, including the final one before half that ended in a field goal. Rettig would ultimately return to action to start the second half.
The same way Middleton got things rolling in the first half, he did in the second half. He capped off the first drive of the third quarter with a 28-yard touchdown run, strolling in virtually untouched behind sound blocking from his offensive line to make it 17-3. After a blindside block stalled Iowa City Liberty’s next drive, a perfectly executed play-action pass from Joey Nahas to Jeffrey Roberts went for 67 yards and a touchdown to put the Maroons in the driver’s seat, up 24-3, with 5:21 to go in the third.
Before the third quarter came to a close, and after the two teams traded fumbles, Iowa City Liberty found paydirt for the first time. Rettig helped lead an inspired touchdown drive, which ended with a five-yard touchdown pass to Adrian Clerry to make it 24-10 with 56 seconds remaining in the quarter.
A failed onside kick from the Lightning set up the Maroons well to start the fourth. Middleton continued to get the ball as Dowling ran the clock down and kept the chains moving, but they ultimately settled for a 26-yard field goal from Kuhn to push the lead to 27-10 with 7:29 remaining. Iowa City Liberty’s last effort was extinguished by an interception on the following drive by Jordan Watson.
The result finished off Iowa City Liberty’s best season in program history. The Lightning reached the title game for the first time ever, going 11-2 with wins over all of their rivals and several top teams in the state, including Waukee Northwest and Southeast Polk.
“I’m just so proud of our guys fighting the way they did,” Iowa City Liberty coach Scott Chandler said. “An undersized group, scrappy is a good way to describe them and we scrapped our way all the way to the state championship, so not a bad deal.”
But by night’s end, it was the Maroons who ended the year on top. Dowling Catholic was 12-1, avenging its only loss of the season to Valley in the state semifinals. Aside from the Week 1 slip-up, the Maroons breezed the rest of the way through their schedule to take their place back on top of the Iowa high school football world.
Dowling Catholic now owns 11 state titles, and this marks its first since winning seven in a row from 2013-19. All-time in Iowa, they are second only to Harlan’s 14 titles. Head coach Tom Wilson was sure to point to his players for their effort to get the team back to the top.
“It’s been a player-led team,” Wilson said. “For them to be able to experience this is really special.”
Eli McKown covers high school sports and wrestling for the Des Moines Register. Contact him at Emckown@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @EMcKown23
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Dowling Catholic football beats IC Liberty to win 5A state title
Reporting by Eli McKown, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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