Washington holds off Davenport Assumption, 38-35 (w/video)

DAVENPORT - If a football team can look dazed and confused despite a win, this was it.

“I don't know,” Cedar Rapids Washington Coach Tony Lombardi said, searching for words after his Warriors held off Davenport Assumption, 38-35, in a Class 4A playoff opener Wednesday night at Brady Street Stadium. “And I don't mean that in a funny way. I've done this long enough to know that I need to look at the film to find out what just happened. Weird game.”

Ninth-seeded Washington (7-3) scored three unanswered touchdowns in the second half to rally from an 11-point deficit and move on to a second-rounder, or whatever they call it, Monday night at top-ranked Linn-Mar. The Warriors needed a quarterback sack by lineman Paul Nash and ensuing fumble recovery at midfield with 25 seconds left to finally cement a game they seemed to have in the bag long before and were actually trailing much of the way despite seeming dominant.

Yep, weird game.

“We made a couple of mistakes at the end,” Nash said. “But right there, I just got back into the backfield, saw the quarterback and hit him.”

“In the playoffs, a win's a win,” said Wash quarterback Braedon Tovey, who ran for a touchdown and threw one. “It was a nail-biter. We found a way to win, which is what you've got to do in the playoffs. Bottom line. It's win or go home.”

Washington ran the ball sometimes at will against eighth-seeded Assumption (7-3), racking up 270 yards. Rotating backs Mitch Bredeson (149 yards rushing and a touchdown) and Will Griffin (100 yards and two TDs) both hit the century mark.

But eight penalties for 95 yards (four 15-yarders) and poor kickoff-return coverage by Washington helped Assumption accrue several short fields it converted regularly. The Knights led at the half, 21-17, despite being outgained by a two-to-one margin, extending their lead on a TD pass from Derek Fulton to Eric Lammers at the start of the second half.

Fulton hit Tim Kilfoy for a 21-yard touchdown with 2:23 left to bring Assumption within the final score. Wash recovered an onside kick but still ended up having to punt with just over a minute left.

Assumption drove to the Wash 39, when Nash came up with his big play. It was the seventh Knights fumble, but just the second the Warriors recovered. Washington also intercepted a Fulton pass, but, again, had to hang on for dear life at the end.

Just weird.

“Can't thank the defense enough,” Tovey said. “Because our offense had some opportunities and missed them.”

“We made a lot of dumb plays, stupid penalties,” Lombardi said. “I don't know what our issues are. We'll see if we can figure them out. But at the same time, it's about winning football games, and that's what we did ... We've got a lot of work to do if we're going to have a chance Monday.”

Here is the game boxscore and a short video interview with Tovey:

TEAM STATISTICS

CR Wash.

Dav. Assumption

First downs

18

20

Rushes-yards

55 - 270

38 - 122

Passing yards

117

206

Comp-Att-Int

7 - 14 - 0

19 - 31 - 1

Total yards

387

328

Fumbles-lost

0 - 0

7 - 2

Punts-average

5 - 27.8

3 - 44.3

Penalties-yards

8 - 95

6 - 50

Rushing:

 CR Wash. –

Mitch Bredeson 24-149 ,

Will Griffin 21-100 ,

Braedon Tovey 7-27 ,

Team 3-0

 Dav. Assumption –

Tim Kilfoy 6-85 ,

Zach Mumm 18-42 ,

Bradley Grothus 1-7 ,

Nick Schebler 1-5 ,

Team 1-0 ,

Derek Fulton 11-0

Passing:

 CR Wash. –

Braedon Tovey 7-14-0-117

 Dav. Assumption –

Derek Fulton 18-29-1-186 ,

Tim Kilfoy 1-2-0-20

Receiving:

 CR Wash. –

Flynn Heald 2-58 ,

David Tann 3-31 ,

Mitch Blades 1-21 ,

Ryan Cain 1-7

 Dav. Assumption –

Eric Lammers 3-56 ,

Cole Clements 7-43 ,

Zach Mumm 2-32 ,

Tim Kilfoy 3-29 ,

Nick Schebler 2-24 ,

Derek Fulton 1-20 ,

Alex Matthys 1-2

CR Wash.

17

14

7

–

38

Dav. Assumption

7

14

7

7

–

35

DA-Ben Kilfoy 1 run (Cole Clements kick)

CRW-Michael Daughtery 27 FG

DA-Derek Fulton 20 pass from Kilfoy (Clements kick)

CRW-Mitch Bredeson 41 run (Daughtery kick)

CRW-Will Griffin 6 run (Daughtery kick)

DA-Zach Mumm 1 run (Clements kick)

DA-Eric Lammers 27 pass from Fulton (Clements kick)

CRW-Ryan Cain 7 pass from Braedon Tovey (Daughtery kick)

CRW-Griffin 2 run (Daughtery kick)

CRW-Tovey 5 run (Daughtery kick)

DA-Kilfoy 21 pass from Fulton (Clements kick)