Cedar Rapids Prairie gets tricky in 56-7 rout of Ottumwa

CEDAR RAPIDS — First Cedar Rapids Prairie opened up the playbook, then it emptied the bench.

The Wildcat, the flea-flicker, even the Statue of Liberty. Nothing was off limits as the Hawks piled on 423 yards of first-half offense as they moved on from last week's setback to Iowa City West with a 56-7 rout of Ottumwa Friday night at John Wall Field.

'We had a good week of practice,' running back Keegan Simmons said. 'We took it one game at a time and got the 'W' tonight.'

The Hawks (5-1, 1-1) got off to a quick start, punishing Ottumwa (0-2, 0-6) at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. The legs of Simmons didn't hurt either. Coming into the night fourth in Class 4A with 899 rushing yards, Simmons' short night of work included six runs of 15 yards or more.

Simmons capped a pedestrian seven-play, 55-yard opening drive with a 4-yard touchdown run. Simmons then ripped off a 59-yarder to set up the second touchdown.

Following a 58-yard Izaak Lindgren interception return, Simmons took a hand-off and hit the spin cycle three times to avoid Bulldog tacklers, finding space on his way to a 35-yard score.

'There were a couple of defenders who were going for my legs,' Simmons said. 'I just did the spin move, got around them, and got to the edge.'

Up 21-0, quarterback Dalton Rayner faked a throw to his right with the ball behind his back. Jaron Lathrop grabbed it and ran down the left sideline undetected until fumbling out of bounds at the Ottumwa 2.

Later, from the Ottumwa 28, Simmons took a handoff and quickly pitched back to Rayner, who heaved the ball into the back of the end zone. Grant Smith made a leaping grab in heavy traffic for a 42-7 lead.

Simmons finished the night with 210 yards on just 15 carries. He added four touchdowns, bringing his season total to 15.