Late drive lifts West, 38-34

MARION — Iowa City West is still playing. Still rowing.

The Trojans drove 93 yards in the final 2:19, converted a fourth-and-8 from their own 9 and scored the winning touchdown on Yeshuwa Hicks' 8-yard run with 25 seconds left to trip No. 6 Linn-Mar, 38-34, in a Class 4A second-round football playoff game Monday night at Linn-Mar Stadium.

'We've been in this situation all year long,' West Coach Garrett Hartwig said after the Trojans (7-4) rallied from an 11-point deficit in the final 5 1/2 minutes. 'We've been down, but we don't quit. These kids are coached not to quit.'

The Trojans' victory song in the visiting locker room: 'Row, Row, Row Your Boat.' Hey, whatever works.

West will face No. 1 Cedar Rapids Washington (11-0) in the quarterfinals Friday at Kingston Stadium.

Linn-Mar retired at 9-2, a far cry from 2-7 a year ago. The Lions were on the verge of their first appearance in the quarterfinals since 1994, but couldn't make a stop when absolutely necessary.

'The football life is hard sometimes,' said Lions Coach Bob Forsyth. 'Give West all the credit.

'Only one team is happy at the end of the tournament, and we're not going to be the ones.'

Despite intermittent rains, West quarterback Aaron Bleil passed for 360 yards and engineered the Trojans' comeback.

'Coach puts me out there to make plays,' Bleil said. 'The line made the blocks, and my receivers were making big plays.'

Bleil's 1-yard touchdown run — and two-point pass to Connor Greene — brought the Trojans within 34-31 with 5:22 to go.

Linn-Mar got one first down on its next drive, but was forced to punt. The kick died at the West 7, leaving the Trojans a long field and a short clock.

Two incompletions sandwiched a 2-yard gain and left the Trojans with fourth-and 8 from their own 9. But Bleil converted with a 12-yard pass to Tyler Eads, then followed with a 17-yarder to Eads, and West was in business.

A 22-yarder to Oliver Martin put the Trojans in Linn-Mar territory, then connected with Martin again for 20 yards to the Lions 8.

Hicks scored on the following play.

West recovered Ryan Schmidt's fumble on the Lions' first play on their final, desperation drive, and that was it.

Hicks ran for 152 yards. Eads caught six passes for 157 yards, Martin seven for 89.

The Trojans generated 519 yards of total offense, Linn-Mar 402.

'The kids played hard, but they were a little mismatched up front,' Forsyth said. 'We counted on our defense all year, and they usually came up big. But we couldn't come up with it tonight.'

The first half consisted of 44 points, 25 first downs, 593 yards and five lead changes.

West took a 23-21 advantage into the locker room, thanks to a pair of touchdown passes by Bleil in a wild second quarter in which the teams hot-potatoed the advantage.

Bleil connected with Martin on a 9-yard score, then a 33-yarder to Eads with 19 seconds left in the half.

Perrion Scott ran for 151 first-half yards for Linn-Mar in the opening half, including an 80-yard touchdown on his second carry. Schmidt passed to Garrett Evans for a 22-yard touchdown, then ran for a 6-yarder on the Lions last possesion of the half.

Schmidt ran for TD runs of 5 and 4 yards, the last of which came with 8:25 left, to give Linn-Mar a 34-23 lead. Schmidt passed for 132 yards and ran for 93, and Scott finished with 166 on the ground.

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