Warriors use strong second half to take down rival J-Hawks

By Nick Thompson

CEDAR RAPIDS – A week one win is always sweet.

A week one victory over a crosstown rival? Even sweeter.

Cedar Rapids Washington used a strong second-half rushing attack to take down rival Jefferson, 38-13, on Friday night at Kingston Stadium.

“It felt a lot more tense than the scoreboard led on,” said Washington head coach Eric Addy. “We practice situational football and we weren’t prepared for some situations, but we figured it out and kept working on things that we wanted to improve on from the scrimmage to the game today. We did a good job at it, but we need to do a better job at it.”

The first half was a dogfight for both teams offensively with neither one able to find solid footing through the first quarter and it ended in a 0-0 tie.

A botched snap early on in the second quarter for Jefferson on a punt attempt resulted in a negative-28 yard punt, putting the Warriors in prime position at the Jefferson 16-yard line. A few plays later, quarterback William Strastny dove in for his first of three touchdowns on the night to give Washington an early 7-0 lead.

Washington’s defense held strong, forcing a punt and they capitalized, finishing off the drive with another Strastny goal-line dive to take a 14-0 advantage into the final minutes of the half.

While the Warriors were able to tack on three points thanks to a Logan Barton 18-yard field goal from the right hash and they held a 17-0 advantage going into the halftime break.

“The first half really wasn’t convincing,” Addy said. “I wanted them to score a whole lot more and be better offensively. The defense played awesome, lights out. I wish we could’ve gotten a touchdown instead of three at the end of the first half, but we came out in the second half and executed when we had plays come to us.”

The second half started with an 80-yard, 10-play drive from Jefferson, capped off by a 32-yard touchdown pass from Derek Robinson to Osten Robertson to cut the lead down to 17-7 early on in the third quarter.

Strastny and company followed that up with another short touchdown rush, set up by a 30-yard gain from Washington’s Uweza Kalolero and the Warriors led 24-7.

In the middle of the fourth quarter, Daityon Ayers picked off Robinson and returned it for a 25-yard interception return for a touchdown to boost their lead up to 31-7.
While Jefferson was able to pick up a late touchdown on a 13-yard Tyree Turner touchdown to cut the lead to 31-13 after a failed two-point conversion, Kalolero put the final nail in the coffin with a long touchdown run to cap off the rivalry win 38-13.

“Two big plays come to mind,” Addy said. “His [Ayers] pick six, and Uweza’s last touchdown run, the former Jefferson J-Hawk, with the dagger touchdown at the end. He really deserved that and our guys played so well.”

The first game of the year is usually the sloppiest in terms of penalties, with 25 accepted and over 200 yards worth of penalties on the night, staying focused and sticking to the game plan is a major key to victory.

“The guys that are seniors are day one guys,” Addy said. “They’ve been playing for me and the staff for three years and they’ve been getting better every day. There’s a lot of love, there’s a lot of togetherness. Everyone throws around the word family, but we really are that. We really are a together group. They were warriors tonight. It was never a doubt those guys would keep the team together and they took the challenge to heart from me and the coaching staff to be leaders and make everyone better, and they did that tonight.”

Washington will take its 1-0 record on the road next week against a very tough North Scott team that beat them 38-16 last year.

“The biggest improvement in a season is from week one to week two,” Addy said. “We made big strides from the scrimmage to tonight and I’m excited to get into the game film. We have a lot of mistakes to improve on from tonight to compete with a great North Scott team. It was a seven point game at half last year, we weren’t able to execute a field goal at the end of the first half last year, but I’m excited to see us go on the road in hostile territory against North Scott and hopefully come away with the win.”

Jefferson will host Muscatine next week at Kingston Stadium.

C.R. Jefferson 0 0 7 6 – 13
C.R. Washington 0 17 7 14 – 38

CRW – William Strastny 1 run (Logan Barton kick)
CRW – Strastny 1 run (Barton kick)
CRW – FG Barton 18
CRJ – Derek Robinson 32 pass to Osten Robertson (Tyler Bartlett kick)
CRW – Daityon Ayers 25 interception return (Barton kick)
CRJ – Tyree Turner 13 run (kick failed)
CRW – Uweza Kalolero 40 run (Barton kick)