Jefferson rolls past Linn-Mar to earn ‘home’ playoff game

CEDAR RAPIDS - Cedar Rapids Jefferson did everything it could do to make it a prep football playoff triple-header next week at Kingston Stadium. Now it's up to the Iowa High School Athletic Association to cooperate.

Jefferson ran early, late and every place in between to stampede Linn-Mar, 43-16, in a regular-season finale Thursday night at Kingston. The win allowed the J-Hawks (6-3) to secure second place in Class 4A, District 5 via tiebreaker over Linn-Mar and Cedar Falls.

That's supposed to earn you home-field advantage for the first round of the playoffs Wednesday night. The problem is Cedar Rapids Kennedy and Cedar Rapids Washington share Kingston with Jefferson and have both clinched home field in the first round as district champions.

That could very well trump the J-Hawks out of a home game. You're going to see a Kingston double-header Wednesday night for the second time in three years, but a triple-header likely is out of the cards because it would have to begin in the afternoon.

The guess is Jefferson will have to find a neutral site.

'I'll call the IHSAA tomorrow again and plead our case,” said Jefferson Athletics Director Chris Deam. 'These kids have earned the right to play in the playoffs on their home field.”

Jefferson's players and coaches seemed resigned to not playing at Kingston.

'We don't know,” said Jeff Coach Brian Webb. 'First time in history this has happened, obviously. Regardless of what happens, our kids are going to be ready to play. They'll have focus and attention to detail,”

'We're ready for anything,” said Jefferson's Valentino Green. 'We're preparing for any situation that they put us in. I feel like we do deserve to play here, but we could have played better ... We put ourselves in this situation, so we'll have to go with it.”

Green had three touchdowns, two runs and a blocked punt recovery, as Jeff pulled away early. Linn-Mar (4-5) could not stop the J-Hawks on the ground, with Jefferson rushing for a whopping 448 yards, using its speed to break several jet sweeps.

Tavian Rashed had 148 yards rushing on 14 carries, though he didn't find the end zone. Quarterback Jared Eivins added 129 yards and a TD on 10 carries.

'The coaches have been talking to us all week that we'd be able to run the ball,” said Green. 'We have more speed than them, so we were able to use that to our advantage in this game.”

Green, though, was shocked when told how many yards his team rushed for.

'Really? Oh, my God,” he said. 'I didn't expect that.”

'Our kids came out guns ablazing,” Webb said. 'All week we practiced to put the foot on the gas and never let up. That was a championship-caliber effort.”

Linn-Mar also is in the playoffs, though it'll play on the road against someone. The Lions' touchdowns came from Brennan McGaffe and Daniel Gorsich, with Alexy Boehm adding a 37-yard field goal.

This is the second straight playoff appearance for Jefferson, which finished with a winning record for the first time in 15 years. The J-Hawks are seeking their first playoff win since 1993.

Webb has been at the helm since 2012, when Jefferson ended a hideous 24-game losing streak.

'We were a joke, and we're not a joke anymore,” he said. 'We've brought back some Westside pride. Our kids play hard, we have exceptional coaches. The credit goes to them. It feels good to come back and compete with everybody. We feel we can compete with every team. You couldn't have said that two or three years ago.”

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