The final score was an impressive 45-0.

Linn-Mar's Class 4A District 5 opener Friday night with Waterloo East went as expected, but the Lion players and coaches looked far from satisfied as they headed back to the locker room at Linn-Mar Stadium.

"We just had to figure out why we started out slow," said senior quarterback Ryan Schmidt. "We know we have to come back harder next week. We had a good week of practice and we're going to get it figured out for next week."

The atmosphere was nowhere near as electric as it was last Friday prior to a 43-3 loss to then-No. 2 Washington. Linn-Mar Coach Bob Forsyth admitted it took his team longer than he would have liked to get things going against the Trojans.

"Hey, we won and you always have to celebrate a win," he said. "We just didn't start out the way we wanted to tonight from a mental standpoint, an emotional standpoint, an intensity standpoint.

"We talked to them at halftime and I think we did a lot better job in the second half."

East came in being outscored 161-14 during a 0-4 non-district portion of its schedule, including being blanked in three of those games. Linn-Mar's defense held the visitors to 96 total yards. Schmidt said the work of the defense was the difference.

"This was a district game," Schmidt said. "When the defense gives up zero points, you are going to win those 100 percent of the time."

The Lions were driving at the start, but Schmidt threw a rare interception deep in East territory to stall the drive. The defense held and three runs apiece by Schmidt and Logan Benter, the final one a 5-yard jaunt from Benter, put the Lions up 7-0.

On East's next series, senior Trevor Noble picked off the first of two interceptions he had in the game to set the Lions up again. Three plays after the pick, Schmidt went in from the 3, upping the lead to 14-0.

"Getting turnovers is always big," Schmidt said. "That was a great job (by Noble) getting those two picks. If you get more turnovers than the other team, you usually come out on top."

Sean Zimmerman booted a 27-yard field goal early in the second quarter and Perrion Scott scored on a 20-yard screen pass to make it 24-0 before Schmidt snuck in from the 1 with 17 seconds left in the half, giving Linn-Mar a 31-0 lead at the break.

Schmidt's third TD run, this one a 7-yarder, midway through the third quarter sent the game into the continuous clock mode. Jordan Junkins capped the scoring with an 8-yard run early in the fourth quarter.

Scott finished with 109 yards rushing on 10 carries. Schmidt passed for 120 yards and ran for 77 more.

The Lions hit the road Thursday night, playing against Kennedy (0-5, 0-1) at Kingston Stadium, The Cougars dropped a 27-24 overtime decision Thursday night to Jefferson.

Forsyth isn't worried about getting the team's attention, even with a short week of preparation.

"I don't have to worry about motivation this week," he said. "A Waterloo team is a little bit of an unknown for us. I don't have to worry about a Metro team. Our kids will be excited and ready to play.

"We won't change much this week," Forsyth added. "With it being a short turnaround, we will practice on Sunday, which will be like our normal Monday. We will go from there."

Schmidt knows the Cougars will be a dangerous foe, despite their winless record.

"We've just got to keep getting better," Schmidt said. "It's always great to win, even if you don't play your best. We're going to move past this game and get better for next week. Kennedy will come ready to play. We have to do the same."

LINN-MAR 45, WATERLOO EAST 0

East LM
First downs 6 28
Rushes-yards 23-24 41-263
Passing yards 72 125
Comp-Att-Int 9-18-2 10-19-1
Fumbles-lost 2-1 3-0
Punts-avg. 5-35.4 0-00.0
Penalties-yards 10-74 4-33

Waterloo East 0    0    0   0  -  0
Linn-Mar        14  17   7   7  - 45

LM - Logan Benter 5 run (Sean Zimmerman kick)
LM - Ryan Schmidt 3 run (Zimmerman kick)
LM - FG Zimmerman 27
LM - Perrion Scott 20 pass from Schmidt (Zimmerman kick)
LM - Schmidt 1 run (Zimmerman kick)
LM - Schmidt 7 run (Zimmerman kick)
LM - Jordan Junkins 8 run (Zimmerman kick)

Individual Statistics
Rushing

Waterloo East - Jibri Petroske 4-5, Chase Pryor 1-minus 4, Jeremiah Harrison 7-28, John Magnuson 8-minus 8, Darren Scott 1-5, Mikhi Patterson 1-minus 2, Team 1-minus 3
Linn-Mar - Perrion Scott 10-109, Ryan Schmidt 11-77, Logan Benter 8-37, Jordan Junkins 2-22, Daniel Gorsich 1-minus 3, Nolan Hollinger 2-6, Zach Luehring 4-27, Kevin O'Donnell 1-8, Team 2-minus 20

Passing
Waterloo East - John Magnuson 6-14-2-23, Darren Scott 1-2-0-24, Chase Pryor 2-2-0-25
Linn-Mar - Ryan Schmidt 10-19-1-125

Receiving
Waterloo East - Thomas Hall 4-48, Joel Rosauer 2-24, Mikhi Patterson 2-5, Tauheed Williams 1-5
Linn-Mar - Trevor Noble 1-11, Bryce Miller 2-15, Perrion Scott 1-20, Garett Evans 2-32, Jordan Junkins 1-19, Andrew Gassmann 2-16, Daniel Gorsich 1-12.