Cedar Rapids Washington thumps Davenport West for first high school football victory under Coach Eric Addy

CEDAR RAPIDS – This was a victory about six months in the making.

Cedar Rapids Washington has been working for this from the time Eric Addy took over the football program in the spring. Sure, there have been some ups and downs over but it was all worth it to crack into the win column.

“We started this thing back when I got this job in March and April,” said Addy, who came to Washington after five seasons coaching his alma mater Des Moines North. “There have been some growing pains, building our culture. It finally paid off tonight.”

The Warriors earned their first win of the season and under their first-year head coach with a 36-6 victory in a Class 5A football game Thursday night at Kingston Stadium. Washington has matched its win total from a year ago.

“We played awesome,” Addy said. “The guys played phenomenal. Our coaching staff coached their tails off. I couldn’t be prouder of the program.

“I know everybody looks at the head coach. I play a small piece. The assistant coaches and the kids are out there working hard but it’s a good feeling to see them and their hard work pay off.”

A large group of Warriors posed for a picture with Addy on the field after the game.

“We always talk about how you can’t get two before you get one,” said Washington quarterback Grady McGuire, who passed for a touchdown and ran for another. “This first one was huge.

“It’s really exciting. It means a lot.”

Washington (1-2) handled the Falcons (0-3) and controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. The Warriors did it from the start, moving 80 yards on eight plays including seven straight runs to open the game. The rush attack set up the play-action pass. McGuire hit Fidel Tiah for a 44-yard scoring striking and 6-0 advantage a little more than four minutes into the game.

“We saw the single-I safety creeping up and we got him,” said McGuire, who scored on a 15-yard run in the third. “Checkmate. Let Fidel go get it and do what he does. Awesome play. Great job.”

The Warriors took advantage of a short field for a 40-yard drive on four rushes that was capped by a 21-yard TD run by Alex Taylor, who refused to go down after pinballing off tackles and running through defenders early in the second quarter.

Washington’s run-heavy approach produced two 15-play drives that resulted in points. The first led to Logan Barton’s 23-yard field goal with three seconds left in the second for a 16-0 halftime lead.

The Warriors drove 66 plays on 15 plays and melted 9:02 off the clock, bridging the final two quarters. Brock Davis added a 4-yard TD plunge.

After a Will Barnes interception return gave Washington the ball at West’s 8, Nicholas Riley reached the end zone from the 2 to cap the scoring with 3:44 left.

“We’re a team built on the run,” Addy said. “That’s the identity of the team.

“We want to be tough and part of that is willing to play physical. Our guys love to play physical. They embraced it. Once we figured out and commit to playing physical and being tough. We were able to dominate them up front.”

Washington rushed for 301 yards and didn’t need to attempt the pass. The Warriors’ Wyatt Young said he believed the offensive line made the biggest impact.

“This is my first offensive linemen win,” Young said. “Like, I believe our linemen won it. Also, Grady McGuire really brought something there … our backs, too. They knew the job. Get behind us and drive. I want to call all the linemen out.”

West managed a few big plays, including two runs over 50 yards but never were scores and one was a harmless gain as the first half expired. Young had five sacks in the second half and Washington posted 11 tackles for loss. The Falcons finished with 155 offensive yards.

“We talked in the locker room, hyping each other up,” Young said. “We told each other to get after it. We were up two scores on them and we choked it. That hurt me the most last year. This year, the guys really brought it this time.”

Washington’s offense tallied 38 points and almost 400 yards. Last week, the defense forced four turnovers and Addy was impressed by the special teams. Each phase contributed and it rendered success.

“We were able to put a three-phase game together,” Addy said. “Tonight, we put all three together and do what we needed to do. And do pretty much anything we wanted to do.”

The Warriors host Cedar Rapids Kennedy next week at Kingston.

Cedar Rapids Washington 36, Davenport West 6

AT KINGSTON STADIUM

DW CRW

First Downs 7 18

Rushes-yards 28-110 49-301

Passing yards 45 57

Comp-att-int 2-9-1 4-5-0

Total yards 155 358

Fumbles-lost 3-0 0-0

Punts-avg. 4-39.5 1-38.0

Penalties-yards 1-5 5-52

Davenport West 0 0 6 0 -- 6

C.R. Washington 6 10 6 14 -- 36

CRW – Fidel Tiah 44 pass from Grady McGuire (Conversion failed)

CRW – Alex Taylor 21 run (Logan Barton kick)

CRW – FG Barton 23

CRW – McGuire 15 run (kick fail)

DW – Trey Brown 17 pass from Tyrale Ross (pass fail)

CRW – Brock Davis 4 run (Barton kick)

CRW – Nicholas Riley 2 run (Barton kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – Davenport West: Jordan Tate 11-65, Brady Belz 9-40, Marvin Neely IV 2-7, Christopher Simmons 2-6, Michael Foster 1-2, Ross 1-1, Team 1-(-3), Brown 1-(-8). C.R. Washington: Taylor 16-96, McGuire 11-88, Davis 8-56, Riley 8-29, Aaron Butikofer 4-15, Will Barnes 1-13, Equon Jackson 1-4.

PASSING – Davenport West: Belz 1-5-0-28, Ross 1-4-1-17. C.R. Washington: McGuire 4-5-0-57.

RECEIVING – Davenport West: Foster 1-28, Brown 1-17. C.R. Washington: Tiah 1-44, Davis 3-13.

Comments: kj.pilcher@thegazette.com