It wasn't exactly a playoff atmosphere Wednesday night at Linn-Mar Stadium as the Lions played host to Davenport Central in a Class 4A first-round contest.

That had Linn-Mar Coach Bob Forsyth concerned.

"It's just a different environment when you come out here for that first Wednesday night playoff game," he said. "The band's not here. The crowd's not where you want, but I thought our kids did a good job of working around that."

The Lions shrugged things off and defeated Davenport Central, 34-14.

Linn-Mar took control with a 24-point second quarter, relying again on big plays from quarterback Ryan Schmidt and Trevor Noble to get in scoring position. Neither of the dynamic seniors were able to get into the end zone, but a couple big runs from Schmidt and three more long passes to Noble set the table for others.

Senior tailback Perrion Scott scored three touchdowns and Alexy Boehm connected on a pair of first-half field goals to propel Linn-Mar past the Blue Devils.

Linn-Mar (9-1) will host Iowa City West in its second-round game on Monday night. The Trojans advanced with a win Monday night over Ottumwa.

Central closes its season at 4-6.

"We didn't play our best football tonight," Forsyth said. "Davenport Central had a lot to do with that. We've got to play better, stay healthy and get to Monday. I thought we'd come out here and really step on the gas. In a lot of ways we didn't, but credit the kids. They got the win and that is what is important at this time of the year."

Aside from allowing two long scoring plays, the Linn-Mar defense was its usual stout self. The Lions gave up 259 yards of total offense, but 155 of those came on two plays - an 80-yard Pachino Hill run in the second quarter and a 75-yard pass from Brady Cartee to Caleb Buehl in the game's final three minutes.

Boehm got the Lions on the board on their first two drives. Linn-Mar saw both drives stall and Boehm hit field goals from 32 and 27 yards out for a 6-0 lead.

A 22-yard Schmidt run was the key play on the first drive and runs of 35 and 23 yards from the senior quarterback set up the second field goal.

That kick came on the first play of a second quarter that would see the Lions score 24 points. Schmidt hit Noble on a 34-yard strike on Linn-Mar's next drive, setting up Scott for a 2-yard run.

Another Schmidt to Noble hookup took the ball to the 1 on the next drive where Logan Benter crashed in for the score. After Hill's 80-yard run on the first play after the ensuing kickoff got Central on the board, Linn-Mar drove again. Scott capped the drive with a 5-yard run in the final 16 seconds of the half, giving the Lions a 27-7 lead at the break.

Scott's final score came on the first drive of the second half on a nifty 55-yard run.

"We hadn't been in the playoffs for two years, so we had to take advantage of this," said Scott, who finished with 81 yards rushing. "(Central) was keying on our elite guys, so we had to set up a strategy to attack their defense."

After the Scott TD, many of the Linn-Mar starters got the rest of the night off. Monday's second-round game will be the third in 11 days for the Lions.

"You absolutely have to do it," Forsyth said about resting some players. "I thought we might have pulled the plug a little early, but in retrospect it was the right thing to do.

"We have to keep everybody healthy," he said. "The main thing is winning the game and moving on to the next round. We'll have to do a lot of things better Monday, but I am sure the kids will respond."

LINN-MAR 34, DAVENPORT CENTRAL 14

DC              L-M

First downs                8                19
Rushes-yards          19-93          48-264
Passing yards           166              220
Comp-Att-Int          11-24-0        11-19-0
Fumbles-lost             0-0               0-0
Punts-avg.              5-32.4          2-32.0
Penalties-yards          3-30            4-45

Davenport Central   0   7   0   7  - 14
Linn-Mar                3  24   7   0  - 24

LM - FG Alexy Boehm 32
LM - FG Boehm 27
LM - Perrion Scott 2 run (Scott run)
LM - Logan Benter 1 run (kick failed)
DC - Pachino Hill 80 run (Justin Sanchez kick)
LM - Scott 4 run (Ryan Zimmerman kick)
LM - Scott 55 run (Zimmerman kick)
DC - Caleb Buehl 75 pass from Brady Cartee (Sanchez kick)

Individual Statistics

Rushing

Davenport Central - Pachino Hill 8-94, Tony Marshall 4-minus 2, Brady Cartee 3-6, Wesley Freeman 2-6, Caulin Hurt 1-minus 5

Linn-Mar - Perrion Scott 11-81, Ryan Schmidt 10-88, Logan Benter 3-10, Daniel Gorsich 2-3, Jordan Junkins 7-60, Zach Luehring 8-58, Michael Ho 1-1, Nolan Hollinger 3-minus 18. Team 3-minus 19

Passing

Davenport Central - Brady Cartee 11-24-0-166

Linn-Mar- Ryan Schmidt 9-17-0-198, Michael Ho 1-1-0-0, Nolan Hollinger 1-1-0-22

Receiving

Davenport Central - Caleb Buehl 5-110, Pachino Hill 2-16, Tony Marshall 1-5, Alec Capshaw 2-34, Jacob Houghton 1-1.
Linn-Mar - Trevor Noble 3-98, Daniel Gorsich 1-8, Perrion Scott 1-11, Garret Evans 3-38, Adam Stolley 1-43, Zach Luehring 1-0, Jordan Junkins 1-22.