Washington Football

Warriors run out of miracles

One by one, most of them crying, the seniors on the Cedar Rapids Washington football squad hugged their younger teammates after the game at Kingston Stadium Friday night.

Coach Tony Lombardi waited for each of them at the end of the line, greeting each player with a firm, lingering embrace and soft words of consolation.

"Good job. You played well. I love you," he said, one after another.

Washington's remarkable season ended with tears in the quarterfinals of the Class 4A playoffs. Disappointed Warriors were still mingling on the field 45 minutes after it ended.

Barkley Hill killed them. So did two turnovers.

Hill broke loose for 231 yards and five touchdowns as No. 6 Cedar Falls stopped the Warriors, 35-32, in a memorable contest on a cool night in November.

"After the game, I looked at the scoreboard, and not for one second do I want to take this helmet off," said an emotional Storhm "Hurricane" Henry, who was a stalwart in the trenches all night for Washington. "I want to keep it on."

The Warriors (8-4) stopped Hill early and owned a 24-14 lead late in the third quarter. A trip to the 4A semifinals in the UNI-Dome was within reach, but it went downhill from there.

Hill showed why he's got a scholarship waiting for him at Iowa State with a spectacular display in the final 13 minutes of the game. He exploded for touchdown scampers of 19, 33 and 50 yards on three straight possesions to grab hold of the game.

Washington committed two straight turnovers in the middle of Hill's heroics, and that turned Washington's 24-14 lead into a 35-24 deficit in less than 5 minutes.

It was another remarkable performance by Hill, who has rambled for 2,427 yards and 40 touchdowns this season as the premier high school tailback in the state.

"He's a hard runner, that's for sure," said Washington senior Flynn Heald. "He's hard to bring down and he lays the wood, there's no question about it.

"On my punt return, I didn't even realize he was the punter and he just HIT me, and I was like, 'Oh my gosh, their punter can hit.' "

Hill excelled as a tailback, linebacker and punter. "He's just good," Lombardi said. "We couldn't tackle him."

Washington, famous for furious comebacks and last-second victories this season, pulled within 35-32 with 6:07 left on a 1-yard touchdown by David Tann and a two-point conversion by Braedon Tovey.

The Warriors forced a punt, and Hill may have saved the day for Cedar Falls (11-1) when he leaped high for the snap, brought it down and booted the ball to the Washington 26. If he hadn't caught that snap, the Warriors could have been sniffing the goal line for a go-ahead score.

As it was, the Warriors got the ball at their own 26 with 3:11 remaining. There was plenty of time for another miracle finish, especially with two timeouts, but nothing happened.

Nothing good, anyway.

Tovey scrambled on 4th-and-10, running desperately for a first down to try and maintain possession of the ball. He approached the first-down marker and slammed his body into a pack of Tigers, trying valiantly to reach the 36 and a first down.

It looked like the officials would call for the chains and take a measurement, but they spotted the ball at the 35, a full yard short. There was no need to measure.

"Where I was standing, he was clearly across the down marker, so he must have gone out of bounds or something," Lombardi said. "Oh, well."

Cedar Falls took over at the 35 with 2:38 to go. Washington had another timeout in its pocket, but Cedar Falls quarterback Grant Grainger ran for one first down and the Tigers got another first down when the Warriors grabbed Hill's face mask for a personal foul.

Cedar Falls easily ran out the clock from there. Meanwhile, the Warriors regretted what might have been.

"That last play on offense," said Tovey, still battling his emotions well after the game had ended. "It's a game of inches, and that's exactly what it came down to.

"If we would have gotten that (first down), I know we could have drove the rest of the way."

The Warriors upset Iowa City High, 27-24, with 10 seconds left this season and stunned Linn-Mar, 28-26, with nine seconds to go, both times on touchdown passes by Tovey.

They desperately wanted a repeat against Cedar Falls, but it didn't happen.

"If Tovey gets that first down ... I thought he had it," Tann said. "If we get that first down, I think it's just like every other game this year. We're coming, we're scoring."

Washington held Hill to 53 yards in the first half and led, 10-7, at intermission. Washington senior Ryan Cain raced 91 yards with the second-half kickoff for a 17-7 advantage, but Cedar Falls quickly countered and made it 17-14 on a 1-yard TD by Hill.

Tovey scored on a quarterback sneak to make it 24-14, but that was the high-water mark for the Warriors.

Hill scored on a 19-yard run to make it 24-21. Tovey threw his only interception of the night and Hill gave the Tigers a 28-24 lead with a 33-yard burst, slipping a tackle on his way to the end zone.

Mitch Bredeson fumbled on Washington's next possession, and Hill sprinted 50 yards to make it 35-24. This time, it was too much to overcome.

"When we turned it over the first time, we were in a little trouble," Lombardi said. "When we turned it over a second time, we were in big trouble."

This Hill was too high to climb.

"He's a strong runner," Henry said. "Our goal tonight was not to hit him high, but tackle him low, get them legs to stop moving. Sometimes it worked and sometimes we tackled him too high and he kept going."

Cedar Falls (11-1) will face Bettendorf (11-1) in the semifinals next Friday at 4:30 p.m. in the UNI-Dome. West Des Moines Valley (12-0) will play Ankeny (11-1) in the other semifinal at 7:30.

Washington made a strong run in the playoffs with exciting victories over Davenport Assumption, 38-35, and Linn-Mar, 28-26, with both of those games on the road. Ironically, the Warriors lost on their home turf for the fourth time Friday night.

The Warriors accepted a handsome trophy for reaching the quarterfinals, then Lombardi made sure his players went over to the stands and thanked fans for their support.

When that was done, Lombardi told the underclassmen to form two lines on the field and had the seniors walk between them for a final farewell at Kingston. Tears flowed freely.

"I measure the success of a season based on exactly that reaction," Lombardi said. "Frankly, if I don't get that kind of reaction at the end of the season, I feel I've failed them.

"Hopefully we've given them enough in the program, they don't want to leave it. I'm pleased they had so much passion and that this is important. I think when you watch them play, it's clear these kids care with every fiber of their being."

CEDAR FALLS 35, WASHINGTON  32

CF         CRW

First Downs        16         21
Rushing            45-282     39-236
Passing            4-7-0      14-29-1
Passing Yards      60         149
Punts              6-36.7     1-38.0
Fumbles/Lost       0/0        1/1
Penalties          6-35       2-17

Cedar Falls      0   7   14   14 - 35
Washington       3   7   14    8 - 32

SCORING PLAYS

CRW - FG Michael Daughtery 24
CF - Barkley Hill 14 run (Jacob Fagersten PAT)
CRW - Mitch Bredeson 2 run (Daughtery PAT)
CRW - Ryan Cain 91 kickoff return (Daughtery PAT)
CF - Hill 1 run (Fagersten PAT)
CRW - Braedon Tovey 1 run (Daughtery PAT)
CF - Hill 19 run (Fagersten PAT)
CF - Hill 33 run (Fagersten PAT)
CF - Hill 50 run (Fagersten PAT)
CRW - Tann 1 run (Tovey run)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Cedar Falls:

Rushing: Barkley Hill 32-231, Brayden Longnecker 4-20, James Harrington 3-20, Ben Challgren 3-13, Team 3-minus 2.
Passing: Grant Grainger 3-6-0, 36; Longnecker 1-1-0, 24.
Receiving: Harrington 3-27, Jake Gallu 1-33.

Washington:

Rushing: David Tann 9-100, Will Griffin 8-63, Mitch Bredeson 15-40, Braedon Tovey 5-25, Flynn Heald 2-8.
Passing: Tovey 14-29-1, 149.
Receiving: Heald 5-55, Mitch Blades 4-45, Jason Oney 3-33, Ryan Cain 1-9, Tann 1-7.

Tovey, Warriors aim to topple No. 6 Tigers

Braedon Tovey began the season as a question mark for the Cedar Rapids Washington football team, but he's developed into an exclamation point instead.

Make that several exclamation points!!!

Tovey wasn't supposed to the starting quarterback this year. That was A.J. Puk's job, but Puk quit after practice began in August to focus on baseball.

Tovey was going to be a wide receiver and defensive back this year. There were plans to use him as a part-time quarterback on option plays, but Puk was supposed to be the main man.

Puk quit, Tovey took over and the Warriors are on a roll. "It's all worked out so far," he said.

August is a long time ago. Washington has reached the quarterfinals of the Class 4A playoffs and will host No. 6 Cedar Falls Friday at 7 p.m. at Kingston Stadium.

Tovey is a major reason the Warriors have managed to pull off a string of major upsets, including three victories over top-10 teams.

Twice this season, Tovey has thrown a touchdown pass in the final 10 seconds to defeat the No. 2 team and snap an opponent's long winning streak, and both times he did it on the road.

Not once. Twice.

The first time, Tovey threw a 5-yard TD pass to Ryan Cain with 10 seconds left to give Washington a 27-24 victory over Iowa City High at Bates Field Sept. 30, snapping the Little Hawks' 33-game winning streak in Mississippi Valley Conference games.

The second time, Tovey fired a 3-yard TD pass to Flynn Heald with nine seconds left to give the Warriors a 28-26 victory over Linn-Mar in the second round of the playoffs at Linn-Mar Stadium last Monday, handing the Lions their only loss of the season.

Two TD passes, both in the final seconds, both on the road, both against second-ranked teams, and both upsets snapped the opponent's lengthy winning streak.

"It's fun to win that close, but we'd like to make it a little less stressful for everyone, including myself," Tovey confessed on Wednesday.

Somehow, he's able to stay calm in extremely stressful situations and make the play.

"I just don't think or hear anything," he claimed. "I don't hear any of the fans or anything. It's me, the linemen and my receivers.

"And I tell everyone in the huddle that we know we can do this, we've worked hard for this, I believe in every single one of you. And we're able to go and we're able to execute."

Now comes Cedar Falls in the playoffs Friday night. The Tigers are ranked "only" sixth in the state, but will be another formidable foe for the Warriors.

Ironically, Washington (8-3) has suffered all three of its losses at Kingston. All of its big wins - against Iowa City High, Linn-Mar and then-No. 9 Iowa City West - were on the road.

The Warriors lost back-to-back games at Kingston Stadium to Kennedy and Dubuque Wahlert in September. They were a .500 club at that point and spinning their wheels.

"After we started 2-and-2 we had to look at ourselves in the mirror and say, 'We're better than this, we've worked too hard,' and we've won six of our last seven," Tovey said. "It's been a lot of fun.

"I love every single one of these guys. We've all worked as hard as we can to get here and we're not ready for it to end yet. We still want to have some fun."

Tovey has completed 103 of 206 passes for 50 percent. He's thrown 13 touchdown passes, but suffered 12 interceptions. None of those numbers are exceptional, but when the game is on the line, he's been very, very good.

Now comes Cedar Falls and tailback Barkley Hill, an Iowa State recruit who has scampered for an eye-popping 2,196 yards and 35 touchdowns this season in 10 games. That's an average of 219.6 yards and 3.5 touchdowns every single game.

Cedar Falls was ranked No. 1 in the state until it suffered a 21-10 loss to Iowa City West in the ninth and final game of the regular season.

"At the beginning of the year the coaches in this league, to a man, felt Cedar Falls was going to be the premier team. We'll find out," Washington Coach Tony Lombardi said. "We beat the other three, and I don't mean that in an arrogant way. We played Linn-Mar, City High and Iowa City West, all of whom are awesome, and we beat them all. So if we beat this team, we're pretty good. I'm not sure we're that good, but we'll find out."

Cedar Falls quarterback Ike Boettger has missed the last two games with an injury, with Grant Grainger taking his place. Boettger is a 66.2 percent passer and Grainger hits 53.5 percent, but their main job is giving the ball to Hill.

James Harrington, the fastest man at the state track meet last spring, is another threat for Cedar Falls as a receiver and kick returner. He's caught eight TD passes and will run track in college, having committed to Alabama.

Tovey likes the idea of playing Cedar Falls in the fresh air, instead of in the UNI-Dome where the Tigers play their home games.

"They haven't had to deal too much with the weather and we've played every game outside," he said. "We can play in the cold, wind, rain, whatever happens.

"It's going to be a little different for them, but they're not going to just give up. They're a great team and they're going to fight to the very end. It could be another game like a City High or Linn-Mar game."

In other words, Tovey might have to throw another touchdown pass in the final seconds to win it.

"He's done it multiple times this year," Lombardi said. "Right now he believes it and our team believes it. So now this week we have to make Cedar Falls believe it."

Once Cain was able, Warriors found stride

Generously listed at 6-foot and 180 pounds, he’s not real big.

And as the gatekeeper in the Washington Warriors' defensive backfield, Ryan Cain is not a speed burner, either.

“I’m fast enough,” he says.

So what is it that makes the relatively unheralded senior such a key player, in the mind of his head coach, for beating Cedar Falls Friday night at Kingston Stadium?

“He plays with heart,” says Tony Lombardi, who has coached at all levels from peewee football to the pros.

“Ryan’s a game changer. When we need a big play, he makes one. He’s done that for us all year and a lot of times in crucial situations.”

In Monday’s 28-26 upset of Linn-Mar, for instance, Cain intercepted one pass and tipped another that led to a second interception.

More than that, according to Lombardi, he kept the Lions’ outstanding wide receiver Andy Henry from exploding one of his trademark big-yardage catches.

“He pretty much shut down the best receiver in the league. He couldn’t have played him any better," Lombardi said.  “And when you can shut down a team’s passing game, more of our guys can concentrate  on stopping the run. It makes all the difference in how we do things on defense.

“That was what was different from the first time we played Linn-Mar.”

Just a month ago, the Lions had embarrassed Washington, 56-7.

In that game, Henry caught two of his three scoring bombs after beating Cain one-on-one downfield.

“Only time I was beat all year,” the multi-purpose two-year starter points out.

“Ryan’s a competitor,” Lombardi notes. “I knew he wouldn’t let that happen again. I knew he’d come back. That’s a reflection of his character.”

For his part Cain, a soft-spoken and confident-without-being-cocky young man, says “I love a good challenge.

“When our line can put good pressure on ‘em, I just try to focus on my man.”

He’ll face another stiff challenge Friday night in Cedar Falls speedster James Harrington, en elite state-champion sprinter bound for a track scholarship at Alabama.  Stop him, and the Warriors have a chance for another upset.

Except for the first Linn-Mar match-up, Cain has been up to the task all year after missing the first four games with a broken collarbone.

He was injured on the second day of preseason practice in August while diving for a pass.

It was first feared that he would be lost for the year.

But under the care of Dr. Ned Amendola, an orthopedic surgeon at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics and team physician for the Iowa Hawkeyes, he was back on the practice field in a month.

Amendola had treated current Hawk player Keenan Davis for an ankle injury when he played at Washington and this year also successfully repaired Warrior teammates Will Griffin and Paul Nash.

“He told me (Iowa running back) Marcus Coker had a similar break as mine,” Cain explains. “He set mine and put me on a rehab program at the sports clinic down there.

“It came out fine.  I guess he’s Iowa’s team doctor for a reason. He’s the best at what he does.”

While Cain was out of the line-up along with Griffin, Washington opened its season with a lackluster 2-2 mark.

Since he’s returned, the Warriors have won six of their last seven games, the latest  two as underdogs in the playoffs.

Lombardi says Cain’s had a major impact in every one of the victories.

In his first full game back against Dubuque Senior he caught a 15-yard screen pass as a receiver and broke up several passes on defense.  His break-out performance, however, came the next week when Washington stunned No. 2 ranked Iowa City High, 27-24.

Used in critical spots as a receiver, Cain caught an eight-yard pass on fourth down with less than two minutes to go to keep a drive alive and then caught a game-winning six-yarder with 10 seconds left.

“And he had a guy draped all over him who could have got 15 years to life on a felony for assault,” says the ever-colorful Lombardi. “But that catch and that game were huge turns of events for our program. We gained confidence that we could play with anybody.

“That was a big, big win that changed our season.”

Two weeks later in a shocking 66-27 shellacking of Iowa City West, Cain intercepted two passes and ran one of them back for a touchdown.

Then, in the first round of the playoffs at Davenport Assumption, he was all over the field, returning a kickoff for 41 yards and another for a 90-yard touchdown that was nullified by a penalty.  He later scored on a short pass and intercepted one at a key juncture that helped spur a comeback 38-35 upset.

“He’s been a difference-maker, no question,“ Lombardi says. “Would we be where we are today without him? I don’t think so.”

Warriors stun No. 2 Lions with 9 seconds 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.

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