WATERLOO - The Jefferson J-Hawks exploded for 21 points in the fourth quarter Friday night and topped Waterloo West, 44-15, to strengthen their hopes of making the Class 4A playoffs.

The J-Hawks were clinging to a 23-15 lead at Memorial Stadium in Waterloo before putting the game away in the fourth stanza on touchdowns by Valentino Green, Jared Eivins and Myles Glassberg.

Jefferson raised its records to 4-3 overall and 1-2 in District 5. The J-Hawks can clinch a winning record for the regular season and square their district mark at 2-2 with a victory against Waterloo East next week.

Jefferson quarterback Jared Eivins, who has been bothered by a sore left shoulder, completed 16 of 24 passes for 205 yards and three touchdowns. He hit Manny Olutunde with an 18-yard TD pass, found Green for an 11-yard score and hooked up with Oluntunde again for a 66-yard pass.

All three touchdown passes came in the first half as the J-Hawks took a 23-0 lead at intermission.

Waterloo West (3-4, 1-2) rallied for two touchdowns in the third quarter and pulled within 23-15 with a two-point conversion, but Jefferson dominated the fourth quarter for the victory.

"I congratulate you as players," Jefferson coach Brian Webb told his team after the game. "We kept fighting and I saw a lot of positive things."

Olutunde caught five passes for 127 yards and carried the ball seven times for another 44 yards. Keenan Stewart had a big game on defense for the J-Hawks, who blocked three punts.

"Stewart figured in on all three blocked punts, which gave us a short field to work with," Webb noted.

Waterloo West quarterback Devon Moore suffered a leg injury in the ballgame. He was carted off the field and taken to a local hospital by ambulance.

"You have to have a great deal of respect for their star," Webb said about Moore. "I hate to see that happen to any player.

"Moore is a heckuva player. He's a nice young kid and he has a great future above the high school level. He means a lot to that team."

Jefferson committed 13 penalties for 100 yards, but compensated by not committing any turnovers.

JEFFERSON 44, WATERLOO WEST 15

.                          CRJ           WW

First downs              15              14

Rushes-yards     40-180         34-185

Passing yards         205               76

Comp-Att-Int    16-24-0          8-18-2

Fumbles-lost           0-0              2-0

Punts-avg.         2-40.5          1-36.0

Penalties-yards  13-100             8-66

Jefferson          7 16   0 21 - 44

Waterloo West  0   0 15   0 - 15

Scoring plays

J - Olutunde 18 pass from Eivins (Render kick)

J - Green 11 pass from Eivins (kick failed)

J - Olutunde 66 pass from Eivins (Render kick)

J - Kesterson 27 FG

WW - Draine 28 run (Muhamedagic kick)

WW - Lenius 4 run (Caddell pass from Lenius)

J - Green 4 run (Render kick)

J - Eivins 4 run (Render kick)

J - Glassberg 6 run (Render kick)

Rushing

Jefferson - Rashed 14-57, Olutunde 7-44, Evins 8-22, Green 3-13, Short 3-5.

Waterloo West - Draine 16-106, Moore 7-34, Lenius 2-5, Williams 4-20, Eighmey 3-14.

Passing

Jefferson - Eivins 16-24-0, 205.

Waterloo West - Moore 7-12-1; Lenius 1-6-1.

Receiving

Jefferson - Olutunde 5-127, Short 4-26, Green 3-15, Stafford 1-13, Szabo 1-10.

Waterloo West - Caddell 2-28, Draine 1-19, Lenius 1-15, Cooper 1-14.