Metro Sports Report

Lions' Newhouse Metro's top female runner

Linn-Mar senior Carolyn Newhouse, who helped lead the Lions to a second-place finish at last weekend's Class 4A state cross country meet, is the Metro Female Runner of the Year.

All five Linn-Mar runners that scored at the state meet were named to the first team and all seven members of the first team were unanimous selections. The team was chosen by a vote of Metro cross country coaches.

Joining Newhouse on the first team from Linn-Mar are senior Brooklynn Kascel, sophomores Morgan Uridil and Rachel Perry, and freshman Maddie Saville.

The other members of the first team are Kennedy sophomore Alyssa Averhoff and Washington sophomore Shannon Gorman.

Linn-Mar also had a runner on the second team - sophomore Caitlin Novak - and Kennedy had five runners on the second team. The Lions and Cougars were the only Metro teams to qualify for the state meet.

Linn-Mar Coach Todd Goodell and his staff are the Metro coaching staff of the year.

Warriors stun No. 2 Lions with :09 left

Cedar Rapids Washington tailback Will Griffin calls Coach Tony Lombardi a mad genius.

Maybe he is.

Lombardi pushed all the right buttons when it counted Monday and the Warriors stunned No. 2 Linn-Mar, 28-26, on a touchdown pass from Braedon Tovey to Flynn Heald with nine seconds left in the second round of the Class 4A playoffs.

The Lions crushed the Warriors, 56-7, during the regular season just a few weeks ago, but Washington scored two touchdowns in the final 4:46 Monday to rally from a 26-14 deficit at Linn-Mar Stadium.

Washington (8-3) will host No. 6 Cedar Falls (10-1) in the quarterfinals Friday night at Kingston Stadium.

"We don't give up as a team," said Tovey, who was in tears when it ended. "We believed in each other - all game, all year. And it's coming together, finally."

Washington rally ends Lions' dream season

Linn-Mar had Washington on the ropes of their Class 4A football playoff game Monday night at Linn-Mar Stadium.

Mark Atwater's 1-yard sneak with 5:55 to play capped a 71-yard drive that gave the Lions a 26-14 lead. The Lions failed in their two-point PAT attempt, but it seemed like an afterthought.

After all, Washington was unraveling. The Warriors had committed two unsportsmanlike conduct fouls on top of pass interference and personal foul penalties for 46 yards that put the ball at the Washington 2.

It seemed a certainty that Linn-Mar was going to advance to the quarterfinals.

Washington didn't get the message.

The Warriors scored two touchdowns in the final 4:46, the last on a 3-yard pass from Braedon Tovey to Flynn Heald with 9 seconds left, and upset second-ranked Linn-Mar, 28-26.

The loss ended Linn-Mar's unbeaten streak. The Lions finished the season 10-1.

Too many teams, too many blowouts

The numbers were eye-popping, the results almost laughable. The first round of Iowa’s high school football playoffs last week produced some of the most lopsided scores imaginable.

Should anyone be surprised? Of course not. Expansion of the playoffs in 2008 has made them terribly diluted, at best.

Of the 96 first-round games contested, nearly one-third (30) were decided by 40 points or more. Close games? Try 14 percent of them decided by 7 points or fewer. In large part, it is because 15 percent of the 192 teams had .500 or losing records.

Here are the average margins of victory in the first round by class:

Class 4A – 31.8
Class 3A – 16.7
Class 2A – 26.5
Class 1A – 32.4
Class A – 28.0
8-man – 35.7

It is no secret expansion to 32 playoff teams in each of six classes was made to line the coffers of the Iowa High School Athletic Association with more gate receipts. It’s a charade if anyone tells you the move was made to give more kids opportunities to play in the postseason.