116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Linn-Mar wears down Cedar Rapids Washington after early turnovers for 41-10 win
Austin Waller comes in at QB and throws for 167 yards and 2 touchdowns
MARION — Three first-half turnovers usually spells doom for a football team.
That was not the case for Linn-Mar on Friday night.
The Lions, ranked No. 10 in The Gazette’s Class 5A rankings, lost a pair of fumbles and had a pass picked off early against Cedar Rapids Washington at Linn-Mar Stadium.
“We just shot ourselves in the foot the first couple of drives,” said Linn-Mar Co-Head Coach Ben Martens. “We weren't playing clean football, just not playing Linn-Mar football. When we decided to fix it up, we got it rolling.”
All the visiting Warriors could muster out of the turnovers was a 23-yard field goal from sophomore Logan Barton and from that point on, it was pretty much all Lions. Linn-Mar scored three times in a five-minute span in the second quarter and went on to a 41-10 triumph.
After the slow start, the Lions (2-0) made a change at quarterback, bringing on senior Austin Waller to replace starter Stone Morgan. Waller provided an instant spark, connecting with Landon Sorg on a 60-yard scoring strike to give the Lions a 7-3 lead early in the second quarter.
“Wash always plays us tough at the beginning of games,” Sorg said. “I think we were in better condition and wore them down a little bit.”
Tyree Alons followed up with a 3-yard TD run and Dylan Muszynski capped the second-quarter surge with a 32-yard scoring run.
Martens said the Lions are fortunate to have a pair of experienced players at quarterback. Morgan stepped in last season when Waller was injured early in the season and started last Friday's 50-0 win over Dubuque Senior.
“Those two have done so much for our program,” Martens said. “I told them they are going to make this program better the way they are going to compete. We're going to go with the hot hand. Tonight, that was Waller and he did a helluva job.”
Waller completed 8 of 13 passes for 167 yards and two touchdowns, both going to Sorg, who hauled in a 28-yard scoring strike in the third quarter.
“Me and Austin have been running routes together ever since high school started,” Sorg said. “We saw on film that the backside post was really open and we looked at it early and it didn't work. We came back to it and ended up with a couple of TD passes.”
Coach Eric Addy’s Warriors (0-2) got a late score just before halftime when quarterback Grady McGuire got in on a quarterback sneak, cutting the Lion lead to 21-10 at intermission.
The second half featured a heavy dose of Muszynski. The senior, who finished with 175 yards on 25 carries, scored twice on runs of 49 and 10 yards. Linn-Mar racked up 453 yards of total offense. The Lion defense was stingy, holding the Warriors to 121 yards of total offense.
“I'm glad I don't have to go against our defense when it counts,” Martens said. “It's tough enough going against them in practice. Those guys are running around like their hair is on fire. They are fun to watch.”
Next week the Lions hit the road for the first time this season, playing against Cedar Rapids Kennedy (0-2) at Kingston Stadium. The Warriors are back in action on Thursday for their home opener against Davenport West (0-2) at Kingston.
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