Washington crushes Clinton

CEDAR RAPIDS - There was no suspense, no edge of the seat drama Wednesday night at Kingston Stadium.

There was just a whole lot of punishment.

No. 1 Cedar Rapids Washington rolled to a 64-0 halftime lead and destroyed Clinton, 78-13, in the first round of the Class 4A state football playoffs.

The 78 points are a school record for Washington (10-0). The Warriors advance to play a to-be-determined foe in Monday's second round at Kingston Stadium. Kickoff is 7 p.m.

Clinton bowed out 2-8. The River Kings' lone wins during the regular season were against Davenport North and West, who were a combined 1-17.

'This was our opponent for tonight,” Washington Coach Paul James said. 'You just prepare the best you can and try to play up to your abilities.”

Washington scored on seven of its eight first-half possessions and rolled up 381 yards of total offense, 294 of them on the ground. They returned a fumble and a blocked punt for touchdowns.

Washington senior linebacker/running back Connor Vincent scored three touchdowns in the first half, the first on a 27-yard fumble return. He also scored on runs of 27 and 23 yards.

'I had some really good holes, thanks to my O-line. Obviously, nobody hardly touched me,” said Vincent, who ran the ball only three times for 67 yards.

The fumble return came late in the first quarter and boosted Washington's lead to 22-0.

'The ball just popped up to me,” Vincent said of the miscue by Clinton's Jake Faur. 'It just happened to bounce right up into my chest.”

The Warriors' defense went chest-to-chest with Clinton and manhandled them. Clinton was held to minus-7 total yards, and minus-19 rushing in the first half.

'I think those 78 points, you have to give a little bit of credit to our defense for getting on the field and getting those three-and-outs (and) getting the offensive right back on the field so they could score again,” Vincent said.

Clinton had seven possessions in the first half but ran only three plays. The River Kings had but two first downs and one was via a Washington penalty.

Junior Tavian Patrick led Washington with 98 yards rushing on four carries. He also blocked the punt that teammate O'Rien Vance scooped up on the 5 and carried in for a touchdown.

Nick Nassif carried the ball 15 times for 95 yards and two touchdowns. Both scores and 12 of his carries came in the second half.

'I think it was a good confidence boost,” Washington senior quarterback Reid Snitker said. 'We know next week it's going to be a little harder.”

James said the game was a good one to play, despite the lopsided outcome.

'The score wasn't the important thing,” he said. 'There were some things we had to work on in preparation for Monday night's game. We tried to handle that the best we could.”