Jefferson High School - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

East's big plays doom J-Hawks, 33-10

Football, in its simplest form, can be summarized as follows:

If you can't stop the big play, you better make a lot of little plays.

Jefferson did neither Thursday night against Waterloo East at Kingston Stadium.

East scored on touchdown runs of 53, 50 and 28 yards, and also a 38-yard pass play, and beat the J-Hawks, 33-10, in a Mississippi Valley Conference game.

It was the second straight year East (1-2) put a whipping on the J-Hawks. The Trojans won 48-6 last year at Waterloo.

"It might have given us a little confidence," East Coach Kody Asmus said. "But last year was last year and it's this year now."

East junior quarterback Desmond VanArsdale had scoring runs of 4, 50 and 28 yards, and also threw the touchdown pass for East.

Jefferson (0-3) ran 84 plays to just 38 for East. The Trojans outgained Jefferson 376 to 340. East had seven plays of 20 yards or more, accounting for 247 yards. The J-Hawks had 23 first downs to 15 for East, but were hamstrung by key penalties twice in the first half and turned the ball over on downs five times in the game.

"We don't have any game breakers. We don't have great speed, so we have to be a very disciplined team that drives the ball down the field," Jefferson Coach Jim Womochil said. "I've told the kids that. It's not a slap in their face. It's the facts. We are not fast. We don't have a guy that can go and break 80 yards so we have to be very disciplined and tonight we weren't. We didn't get it done in the red zone.

"The offense moved the ball between the 20s just fine. That's been the story the first three weeks," Womochil said. "Then we can't convert, whether it be penalties or poor execution on fourth down. We have to get a little mentally tougher as a team."

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Warriors steamroll J-Hawks

The play is 732 trap.

And Washington ran it again and again and again ... and again.

Washington rolled up 277 yards of rushing offense and steamrolled Jefferson, 35-6, in a Mississippi Valley Conference football game played at Kingston Stadium.

Washington senior fullback David Tann ran the ball 12 times for 133 yards and two touchdowns. Juniors Walter Short had 11 carries for 53 yards and a touchdown and Mitch Bredeson rushed 14 times for 77 yards.

"We wanted to keep it balanced and open up the passing attack, but the run was there so we stuck with it," said Tann, who scored on runs of 8 and 10 yards in the third quarter that boosted Washington's lead to 35-0.

But it was in the second quarter when Tann did his most damage, carrying the ball three straight times for runs of 11, 14 and 37 yards to put the ball at the Jefferson 6. Flynn Heald caught the first of his two touchdown passes from Braedon Tovey to make it 14-0 with 9:15 left in the half. Heald caught six passes for 73 yards.

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Petersen, Burgart commit to Mustangs, Sedlacek to UNI

At a minimum the Jefferson J-Hawks will have three of their six seniors going on to play softball in college after this year.

Left fielder Rachel Sedlacek, pitcher Hannah Petersen and shortstop Carson Burgart all recently committed to play college softball next year. Sedlacek will head to Northern Iowa while both Petersen and Burgart have decided to attend Mount Mercy.

The group is excited to have the opportunity to play at the next level, but none of them are looking past this year. They all would like to end their high school career with a state title while enjoying one more year with their J-Hawk teammates.

“There is no explaining high school ball. These girls are my family and I can’t imagine not seeing them every day,” Petersen said. “My goals are to enjoy my last year and be the first 5A state champs.”

Sedlacek and Burgart agree. Both said they will miss their teammates and would like to win the state title.

Mount Mercy made a major haul in landing Petersen.

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Henry shines as No.8 Lions top J-Hawks, 35-10

Linn-Mar quarterback Mark Atwater offered a good scouting report a few weeks ago on his new favorite receiver.

Watch out for Andy Henry, he said shortly after practice began in early August. The kid can play.

True enough.

Atwater connected with Henry for three touchdown passes Thursday night as the eighth-ranked Lions topped Jefferson, 35-10, in the Mississippi Valley Conference opener at Kingston Stadium.

Henry had touchdown grabs of 23, 42 and 18 yards to help Linn-Mar shake a determined effort by the J-Hawks.

"The kid is really good," Atwater said after the game. "Now he's not the best-kept secret here anymore.

"He's fast, he's got athleticism, he goes up and gets the ball. He is going to be a target for us the rest of the season. Henry can flat-out play."

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J-Hawks begin tough schedule with No. 8 Linn-Mar

Seven football teams in the Mississippi Valley Conference received votes in the Associated Press poll this week.

The Jefferson J-Hawks are scheduled to play six of them this year, all but Iowa City High.

Some teams can't catch a break.

Jefferson begins its rigorous campaign Thursday night by hosting No. 8 Linn-Mar in the 2011 opener at Kingston Stadium in southwest Cedar Rapids.

Kickoff is scheduled for 7:15 p.m.

The J-Hawks lost all nine of their games last season and have dropped 13 straight. They haven't won a game since beating Dubuque Senior, 20-13, on Sept. 25, 2009.

It's been 23 months since Jefferson last won a high school football game.

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Womochil, Baxter think J-Hawks can turn it around

The Jefferson J-Hawks are talking about winning some football games this season.

They're talking about making the playoffs.

More than anything, they're talking about pride in themselves and pride in the program.

"One of my goals - and for a lot of the guys - is not necessarily measured in the wins and losses," senior quarterback Alex Baxter said. "We want to win some respect back from the other schools. That's one of the biggest things."

The J-Hawks lost all nine of their games last season by an average margin of 44-8. They've lost 13 straight games, matching the second-longest losing streak in Class 4A, and they've dropped 19 of their last 20 games overall.

"We'll see how we compare to some other teams, but I know at this point and time we're better than we were last year," Coach Jim Womochil said Tuesday on the second day of practice.

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Megan Furnish 71st at PGA Junior event

Megan FurnishFORT WAYNE, Ind. -- Megan Furnish shot a 21-over-par 93 Wednesday in the second round of the 36th Junior PGA Championship at Sycamore Hills Country Club.

Furnish has posted rounds of 92 and 93 for a 36-hole today of 185, which is 41 strokes over par.

Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand has fired rounds of 69 and 68 for a 36-hole score of 7-under 137 in the four-day tournament.

Furnish stands in 71st place out of 78 golfers in the event, which is for players under 19 from around the world. Furnish will be a senior at Cedar Rapids Jefferson this year.

Furnish shoots 92 at Junior PGA

Megan FurnishFORT WAYNE, Ind. -- Megan Furnish of Cedar Rapids struggled Tuesday and shot a 20-over-par 92 in the opening  round of the 36th Junior PGA Championship at Sycamore Hills Golf Club.

Furnish is tied for 74th place in a field of 78 golfers. She is 24 strokes behind the leader. Casey Danielson of Osceola, Wis., fired a 4-under-par 68 in the first round.

The 72-hole tournament continues through Friday.

Furnish will be a senior at Cedar Rapids Jefferson this year.

Furnish misses qualifying for match play at U.S. Juniors

OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. -- Megan Furnish shot an 8-over par 80 Tuesday in the second round of the 63rd U.S. Girls Junior Championship at Olympia Fields Country Club.

Furnish finished stroke play at 15-over par. She missed making the match play portion of the event by five strokes.

Furnish played the back nine first on Tuesday and had three bogeys, a double-bogey and triple-bogey. She came back and played the front nine in even par, recording her only birdie to go along with seven pars and a bogey. She had played the back nine in 2-over par Monday when she shot a 79.

Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand was low scorer in stroke play, finishing at 4-under par.

Furnish is a senior-to-be at Cedar Rapids Jefferson. Her next tournament is the 36th PGA Junior National Championship that will be held Aug. 2-5 at the Sycamore Hills Golf Club in Fort Wayne, Ind.