Hill too much to climb for Washington in 35-32 loss to Cedar Falls

CEDAR RAPIDS - They finally found a Hill they couldn't get over.

Give the Cedar Rapids Washington Warriors tons of credit for a remarkable run. They survived a bunch of early injuries, ended Iowa City High's regular-season win streak and beat three ranked teams, including that memorable thriller Monday night at Linn-Mar.

But they were done in Friday night by a pair of key second-half turnovers and a running back headed to Iowa State next year that simply wouldn't let his team get beat.

"You see your season going away, so you put it into your mind that you've got to get going," Barkley Hill said after his 230 yards and five touchdowns almost single-handedly lifted sixth-ranked Cedar Falls to a 35-32 win over Washington in a Class 4A quarterfinal beauty at Kingston Stadium. "I had to pick it up."

Which he did. Hill's 178 second-half yards and four TDs brought CF (11-1) back from a 10-point third-quarter deficit and into next week's 4A semifinals against Bettendorf (11-1) in the comforts of their UNI-Dome home.

The 6-foot, 210-pounder lowered his shoulder and bowled over would-be tacklers at times, scoring three touchdowns in a span of 4:23 late in the third and early in the fourth quarter to turn this see-saw game for good Fittingly, he ran seven yards for a first down in the final two minutes to officially put Washington (9-4) away.

"He's an all-stater, a great player," said Washington lineman Sean Bredl, one of very few Warriors not in tears postgame. "He bounces off people, a powerful runner. He's going to have a good college career."

"I'm disappointed for our kids," said Wash Coach Tony Lombardi said. "These kids are about as good a group of kids as you'll ever find. Great competitors, a bunch of over-achievers who worked their butts off. It's just one of those deals where their hearts carried them pretty darn close. That was about as far as they could go. I feel bad for them because they don't want to stop playing."

Washington took a 17-7 lead when Ryan Cain returned the second-half kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown. It was still 24-21 Warriors early in the fourth when CF defensive back Jake Gallu intercepted a Braedon Tovey pass in Tigers territory and returned it to the Wash 30.

Hill scored from 33 yards out on the next play. Washington's Mitch Bredeson then fumbled near midfield, and Hill ran a 3rd-and-13 off-tackle play 51 yards for a 35-24 lead.

David Tann's 1-yard TD run and Tovey's two-point conversion run on the next series got Washington within three. The Warriors got the ball back at their own 26 with 3:11 left, but, unlike earlier games against Linn-Mar and City High, there were no last-second heroics this time.

Tovey threw three incomplete passes and was stopped a yard shy of first down on a fourth-down scramble. That was it.

"We've been in that position before, being down," said Washington lineman Storhm Henry. "We fought our hearts out. Every play, every inch of the field, we clawed at. We fought to be the best. It just didn't happen."

"Two turnovers in the second half, and you just can't have that," Lombardi said. "My hats off to them, they played a very good ballgame. You just can't turn the ball over. I don't know what to say other than that."

Washington outgained Cedar Falls by a 381-338 margin. Tovey completed 14 of 30 passes for 142 yards. Tann had 101 yards rushing from the fullback position.

Here is the game boxscore:

TEAM STATISTICS

Cedar Falls

CR Wash.

First downs

17

21

Rushes-yards

46 - 278

40 - 239

Passing yards

60

142

Comp-Att-Int

4 - 7 - 0

14 - 30 - 1

Total yards

338

381

Penalties-Yards

4 - 19

2 - 16

Punts-average

6 - 36.7

1 - 38.0

Fumbles-Lost

0 - 0

2 - 1

Rushing:

 Cedar Falls –

Barkley Hill 33-230 ,

Brayden Longnecker 4-21 ,

James Harrington 3-20 ,

Ben Challgren 3-13 ,

Team 3--6

 CR Wash. –

David Tann 9-101 ,

Will Griffin 8-63 ,

Mitch Bredeson 16-42 ,

Braedon Tovey 5-25 ,

Flynn Heald 2-8

Passing:

 Cedar Falls –

Grant Grainger 3-6-0-36 ,

Brayden Longnecker 1-1-0-24

 CR Wash. –

Braedon Tovey 14-30-1-142

Receiving:

 Cedar Falls –

James Harrington 4-60

 CR Wash. –

Flynn Heald 5-54 ,

Mitch Blades 4-38 ,

Jason Oney 3-34 ,

Ryan Cain 1-9 ,

David Tann 1-7

Cedar Falls

7

14

14

–

35

CR Wash.

3

7

14

8

–

32

CRW-Michael Daughtery 24 FG

CF-Barkley Hill 14 run (Jacob Fagersten kick)

CRW-Mitch Bredeson 2 run (Daughtery kick)

CRW-Ryan Cain 91 kickoff return (Daughtery kick)

CF-Hill 1 run (Fagersten kick)

CRW-Braedon Tovey 1 run (Daughtery kick)

CF-Hill 19 run (Fagersten kick)

CF-Hill 33 run (Fagersten kick)

CF-Hill 51 run (Fagersten kick)

[gallery columns="2"]

CRW-David Tann 1 run (Tovey run)