Metro Sports Report

Lions roll slowly past Waterloo East

The final score was an impressive 45-0.

Linn-Mar's Class 4A District 5 opener Friday night with Waterloo East went as expected, but the Lion players and coaches looked far from satisfied as they headed back to the locker room at Linn-Mar Stadium.

"We just had to figure out why we started out slow," said senior quarterback Ryan Schmidt. "We know we have to come back harder next week. We had a good week of practice and we're going to get it figured out for next week."

The atmosphere was nowhere near as electric as it was last Friday prior to a 43-3 loss to then-No. 2 Washington. Linn-Mar Coach Bob Forsyth admitted it took his team longer than he would have liked to get things going against the Trojans.

Pinter sparks Prairie to road win

BURLINGTON - Keagan Pinter scored three touchdowns and Jalen Rima added an 87-yard kickoff return for a touchdown as Prairie opened district play Friday night with a 49-10 win at Burlington.

Pinter scored on runs of 24, 53 and 11 yards. Rima's return for a score came right after the Greyhounds had taken the lead on an 80-yard run by Joe Mack.

The Hawks played without starting quarterback Trey Beckman, who was injured in last week's win over North Scott. His replacement, sophomore Dakota Simonsen, threw for 81 yards and a touchdown.

DeWitt Central rallies past Marion

James Grill caught a 29-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter to rally DeWitt Central to a 14-8 win Friday night over Marion at Thomas Park in Marion.

The loss again stopped Indians Coach Tony Perkins from tying Les Hipple for the most coaching wins in Marion history.

"We had lots of opportunities and we don't hit them (referring to passing plays) and we simply seem to invent ways to beat ourselves," Perkins said.

Marion took the lead in the third quarter when Eli Frazier recovered a teammate's fumble in the end zone for a score. Kory Walsh's 2-point PAT run put the Indians up, 8-7.

Revived J-Hawks top Cougars in OT

The hugs never felt so sweet. The band never sounded so good. The cheerleaders never looked prettier.

After too many years of misery and misfortune, the Jefferson J-Hawks finally had a great reason to celebrate at Kingston Field Thursday night.

Jesse Furrow hit Valentino Green with a 2-yard touchdown pass on a gutsy call on fourth down in overtime as the revived J-Hawks topped Kennedy, 27-24, to snap all sorts of negative streaks.

Jefferson had lost 25 straight games to Metro opponents and had not beaten Kennedy in 12 years, but all that negativity was washed away on a balmy night at Kingston.

The J-Hawks trailed, 24-21, in overtime with the ball resting on the 2-yard line. It was fourth down and a field goal would have tied the game and forced a second overtime, but Coach Brian Webb wanted nothing to do with that.