Washington beats Prairie, 41-21 (video)

CEDAR RAPIDS - On a season-opening night feeling way more summer than fall, there couldn't have been a more appropriately named kid to make a game-changing play than Tann.Junior safety David Tann's 32-yard interception return for touchdown in the third quarter was the highlight of a strong defensive performance that lifted Cedar Rapids Washington past Cedar Rapids Prairie, 41-21, last night at Kingston Stadium.Washington's usually high-octane offense wasn't all that high octane until late, though it didn't need to be considering the guys on the other side of the ball. That included Tann, who deftly stepped in front of an intended receiver over the middle, picked off a Chaz Boots pass and negotiated his way to the end zone to create hard-fought separation for his team.The ensuing extra point put Washington up 14-3 midway through the third. A fourth-down stop at midfield and interception by defensive lineman Toby Ziemer led to an avalanche of offense, as the teams combined for six touchdowns and 42 points in the final 12 and a half minutes."Dave came up with that interception, and that gave us a little bit of a spark," said Washington Coach Tony Lombardi.Alex Carr was anticipated to be the next terrific Washington tailback and he definitely didn't disappoint. The speedster scored four TDs and literally sprinted his way to 257 yards, including scoring bursts of 84, 67 and 43 yards - all in the second half.At times this was a workmanlike effort for the 5-foot-9, 175-pounder, with Prairie having eight defenders in the box much of the game. That led to a host of small gains, though when he broke free, he wasn't going to be caught."First and foremost, I've got to thank my line. They did all the work," Carr said. "It was tough. Prairie came up fired up. But Coach Lombardi does a great job of calming us down and getting us into position to make plays. That's what we did."On the flip side, it was certainly an oh, oh Riley night for Prairie. Tanner Riley kicked three field goals, including a school-record 47-yarder to open the scoring.He also had a 39-yarder in the second that made it a 7-6 game at halftime, adding a 43-yarder to conclude the scoring. In between he had a 5-yard touchdown run.Always living and dying by the rush, Prairie was held to 99 yards on the ground. Washington countered with 292. The overall yardage spread was 391-211 in favor of the Warriors.Sophomore quarterback A.J. Puk completed 9 of 19 passes for Washington for 99 yards. That included a 20-yard touchdown toss to Flynn Heald, who caught five balls for 63 yards."We had several times, chances, possessions earlier in the game that we just didn't convert offensively," said Lombardi. "Prairie did a good job defensively, I thought. They were going to make our young quarterback throw the ball. We just said 'OK,' and we let him throw it."But there were times where I was trying to force a square peg into a round hole. I just said, 'Hey, we're going to try and run the ball.'"Boots was 9 of 21 with two picks and a late 31-yard touchdown to speedy sophomore receiver DeMetrius Harper. He caught back-to-back bombs from Boots on the drive, covering 64 yards.Here are video interviews after the game with Carr and Washington Coach Tony Lombardi. The game did not finish until 10:20 p.m., so there were no quotes in Saturday's edition of The Gazette.By the way, in the background you will hear a fire department truck and ambulance. They were called to Kingston Stadium for Washington's Chris Gardner, who separated his shoulder.

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