Washington survives Jefferson upset bid

CEDAR RAPIDS - A back named Tavion came up with a long and important touchdown run Saturday afternoon at Kingston Stadium that saved Cedar Rapids Washington's football team from a shocking opening-week loss.

No, not that Tavian.

This was Tavion Stewart who broke loose and sprinted 75 yards for a go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter of the Class 4A second-ranked Warriors' 27-14 escape of Cedar Rapids Jefferson. He looked a lot like tailback teammate Tavian Patrick on the play, a speedy all-stater who added a TD run later in the quarter as Washington won its 16th consecutive regular-season game.

'We were tied, and our team was kind of getting beat up a little bit,” Stewart said. 'That big run got us back into the game, took a little pressure off our defense.”

Took a little pressure off everyone wearing white and red. Jefferson went on the mother of all drives to begin the second half, an 18-play, 80-yard, 8:34 beauty that was capped by a 9-yard touchdown pass from Jared Eivins to Manny Oluntunde.

That tied things at 14, and it was still that score when Stewart burst off right guard on a fullback trap play. He was never touched en route to the end zone.

It was a delayed celebration for the Warriors, with a flag thrown on the play that turned out to be on Jefferson. Washington had a pair of touchdowns called back in the first half, and a couple of Warriors offensive linemen kneeled dejectedly well behind the play after Stewart scored, thinking it was on them.

It wasn't.

'Don't stop. Don't stop running,” Stewart said. 'I didn't notice the flag. I turned around and the ref said ‘Don't worry. It's a touchdown.'”

Another long fullback trap run, this one by Nick Nassif, on Wash's next possession set up Patrick's clinching TD from 15 yards out.

'When it was tied 14-all, it was a decision time for our players,” said Washington Coach Paul James. 'What are we going to do? I really liked the way we responded with two touchdowns.”

Many believed this might be a name-your-score win by Washington, but it was anything but that. Jefferson hung around despite a pair of first-half turnovers, with Eivins impressing in his first start at quarterback. The senior connected with Valentino Green on a 77-yard catch-and-run TD play late in the second quarter and finished with 220 yards on 17-of-28 passing.

Johnny Dobbs had two short TD runs to put Washington on top, 14-0.

'Going up against the number two team and losing by 13 is a great accomplishment for us,” Eivins said. 'Now we're going to focus on next week, beating Prairie. Hopefully this gives us a little momentum going in there. With this game, I think we're heading on the right course.”

Washington ran for 221 yards in the game, a generally inexperienced offensive line seeming to improve as the game wore on, especially in the fourth quarter. The Warriors were penalized 10 times, which is a number that won't beat Cedar Rapids Kennedy next week.

The Warriors know that.

'A lot to improve on,” Stewart said. 'We did some good things, but we did a lot of bad things that we've got to fix. We'll get to it Monday, show our true colors.”

'Every game is going to be everybody's best shot,” Patrick said. 'We have a target on our back. We know that ... This wasn't a blowout. We had to earn our win.”

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