Iowa City West football shows big-play potential, but inconsistency leads to season-opening loss

CEDAR RAPIDS — The Iowa City West football team had an uneven performance in its season-opener Thursday, falling to Cedar Rapids Kennedy 28-19.

The Trojans had a handful of plays that showed positive strides. But special teams woes, penalties, and inconsistency on both sides of the football wound up costing them.

"We made too many mistakes," Trojans coach Garrett Hartwig said. "I credit Kennedy because I said that they were a team that would not beat themselves. We had to beat them. I still feel good in a strange way because we did show flashes of what we would become."

Overall, it was a performance that should inspire hope for the Trojans, coming off a 2-7 season. Here's what we learned.

More: Sophomore quarterback Jack Wallace ready to lead Iowa City West football: 'My mindset has changed'

The Jack Wallace-Christian Janis connection is going to give defenses fits

Before the season, Hartwig talked in-depth about the strides he expected his squad to take, specifically his offense.

With the continued development of sophomore quarterback Jack Wallace and the return of senior wide receiver Christian Janis, he believed there was a chance for this group to turn some heads early.

He proved to be prophetic Thursday after the duo was nearly unstoppable against the Cougars.

They connected on five passes for 171 yards and all three touchdowns. Two of those scores came in the first half, from 86 and 56 yards out.

In his first game since suffering a broken collarbone a year ago, Janis said the performance meant a lot to him.

"It feels really good to be back on the field," Janis said. "Last year, it was hard knowing that I could not do anything from the sidelines to contribute because of my injury, especially in close games."

Though their stellar performance came during a defeat, it is safe to say that as long as they can both stay healthy, this pair has a chance to wreak havoc all season.

More: Football preview 2022: Iowa City West believes it can make last year's struggles a distant memory

Ashton Honore is a tackling machine

No matter what Kennedy called, there always seemed to be someone infiltrating its offensive backfield.

More times than not, it was West's junior linebacker Ashton Honore who was the culprit, taking down Cougars running backs seemingly at will.

He ended the game leading his team in tackles and even had a pivotal quarterback hurry to force an incomplete pass on one third down.

Priding himself on his ability to always find his way to the ball carrier, Honore said that he hopes to build off his performance.

"I think I played great," Honore said. "I read the quarterback well and was able to get past linemen. I just need to work on being better at getting quarterbacks down for sacks."

Even though the Trojans showed promise, there is much work to be done

In the first half, the Trojans gave the Cougars little room to breathe.

They remained in step with them offensively and their defense did a fine job of getting off the field on third down. They trailed 14-13 at intermission.

However, in the second half, it seemed like the team had lost the spark that made them so captivating in the first half.

The lone exception was a 24-yard touchdown from Wallace to Janis that made it a 21-19 game at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

Noticing changes in the looks that the Cougars were giving him, Wallace said they were double-teaming Janis.

"We as a team have to work on spreading the ball around," Wallace said. "During the fourth quarter, they had a safety over him. Defenses are going to pick up on me throwing to him like Kennedy did, so we have to do better."

The Cougars' persistent run game began to wear West down, which allowed them to make more big plays down the stretch.

Special teams had been worrisome all night, with the frustrating play of the night coming on a 93-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Kennedy.

Hoping to have a more balanced performance next week when the Trojans host Muscatine, Hartwig said that he plans to focus on fundamentals when the team returns to practice.

"I want to focus on discipline," Hartwig said. "We came out of the gate in the second half with five penalties. We can't do that against a team like Kennedy. Along with their kickoff return touchdown, that was probably the biggest difference for us in the game."

Raven Moore covers high school sports for the Iowa City Press-Citizen. You can reach her at RSMoore@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Raven_XReport.

This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Inconsistent Iowa City West football team falls in opener