Washpun carries City High to seventh straight win

 IOWA CITY – The formula was a simple one for Iowa City High last night in its 42-28 win against Linn-Mar on senior night.

Run, run and run some more.

And run they did, 58 times for 523 yards as a team. The vast majority of those yards, though, came on the legs of Xavier Washpun, who carried 30 times for 320 yards and two touchdowns.

City High Coach Dan Sabers was at a loss for words after the game when asked about his running back's huge night.

'Wow. Just wow,' Sabers said. 'I don't know what I can say any more about him. He's a special back. He runs so tough and plays so tough.'

Washpun had four runs of 20 yards or more, including two runs of 50-plus yards.

As teammates slapped his shoulder pads and gave him words of congratulations, the senior simply gave a half smile and a quiet thank you.

Washpun was seemingly unstoppable against the Lions (2-6). After coming up limping on a 59-yard run, he had his ankle heavily taped. That didn't slow him down, though, as Washpun ran for 47 more yards and intercepted a Ryan Schmidt pass, all after being taped up.

'I just saw big holes from my linemen and great downfield blocking,' Washpun said. 'It's an amazing feeling, just having that feeling that no one can stop you. I just had to keep exploding through the holes.'

The Little Hawks (7-1) are winners of seven in a row, and avoided a letdown following an emotional upset 14-7 win in the Battle of the Boot last week against No. 6 Iowa City West.

City High didn't make the victory easy on itself, fumbling the ball three times and losing two – one of which was returned by Linn-Mar's Logan Benter for a 24-yard scoop and score.

Sabers said he was a little worried about a possible hangover coming into this week, but was clearly happy with how his group responded – both to the rivalry hangover and in-game setbacks.

'We battled,' Sabers said. 'That's the thing I like about this team and have liked all along. It continues to be a learning experience. You always worry about (a hangover). That's just the way it is, that's human nature. But we battled back.'

With a Mississippi Valley Conference, Mississippi Division title at stake next week, and the possibility of a run at state looming beyond that, the Little Hawks believe they have the talent to accomplish those goals.

And if handing off the ball to Washpun continues to yield the results it did last night against Linn-Mar, those feats seem ever-more reachable.

'It's been the same all year. Coach keeps putting pressure on us to keep it going,' Washpun said. 'He wanted to see how we respond to success, and we responded.'We battle every week and finish games as hard as we can.'

IC City High 42, Linn-Mar 28

AT Iowa City High

TEAM STATISTICS

Linn-Mar

IC City High

First downs

18

24

Rushes-yards

32 - 169

58 - 523

Passing yards

200

27

Comp-Att-Int

12 - 25 - 2

3 - 6 - 0

Total yards

369

550

Fumbles-lost

1 - 0

3 - 2

Punts-average

3 - 38.0

2 - 39.0

Penalties-yards

2 - 28

3 - 35

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing:  Linn-Mar – Ross Lembeck 9-53 , Logan Benter 2-13 , Ryan Schmidt 12-56 , Perrion Scott 8-25 , Austin Wolter 1-22  IC City High – Xavier Washpun 30-320 , Mitch Weiland 12-8 , Bryson Runge 10-123 , Jake Leohr 2-10 , Ivan Diaz 4-62

Passing:  Linn-Mar – Ryan Schmidt 12-25-2-200  IC City High – Mitch Weiland 3-6-0-27

Receiving:  Linn-Mar – Griffin Brennecke 3-27 , Ross Lembeck 4-52 , Matt Ramsey 2-29 , Garrett Evans 3-92  IC City High – Jake Leohr 1-25 , Bryson Lunge 2-2

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Linn-Mar

7

14

7

–

28

IC City High

7

14

7

14

–

42

SCORING SUMMARY

1st Quarter

ICH - 0:35, Mitch Weiland, 1 yard run. Drew Cornwell XP good.

2nd Quarter

LM - 10:39, Ross Lembeck 39 yard run. Austin Wolter XP good.

ICH - 9:42, Bryson Lunge 69 yard run. Cornwell XP good.

ICH - 0:54, Xavier Washpun 28 yard run. Cornwell XP good.

3rd Quarter

LM - 9:11, Perrion Scott 7 yard run. Wolter XP good.

ICH - 7:27, Jake Leohr 8 yard run. Cornwell XP good.

LM - 5:14, Logan Benter 24 yard fumble recovery. Wolter XP good.

4th Quarter

ICH - 10:17, Washpun 1 yard run. Cornwell XP good.

LM - 7:46, Ryan Schmidt 41 yard pass to Garrett Evans. Wolter XP good.

ICH - 4:23, Leohr 2 yard run. Cornwell XP good.