Metro Sports Report

Prairie holds off J-Hawks, 17-14

The difference between the Prairie and Jefferson football teams Friday night was 18 inches.

Jefferson failed to score from inside the 1-yard line in the fourth quarter and Prairie escaped with a 17-14 victory in a Class 4A non-district game at Kingston Stadium.

Jefferson quarterback Jesse Furrow came up 18 inches short on his sneak from the 1-yard line on second down. The J-Hawks lined up to try again on third down and Prairie nose tackle Bryce Meeker did not like where he was standing.

"My whole body was in the end zone," said Meeker, the 300-pounder who is headed to Iowa State next year.

Washington Demons too tough for Marion

Warning to all future opponents of the Washington Demons: Don't make them angry. You won't like them when they're angry.

Embarrassed and fighting mad after a humiliating season-opening shutout loss to Pella, the 2013 Class 3A state runner-up took out its frustrations Friday night on an offensively flat, butterfingers Marion team that stumbled badly in Week 2 of its daunting 2014 “Schedule of Death” slate.

Defensive end Thomas Bump, the face of the Demons' aggression, forced three fumbles and quarterback Daryn Sebelius threw two touchdowns, ran for two scores and sealed the game late as the Demons overwhelmed the Indians, 35-25, at Thomas Park Field.

Washington's fiery response denied Marion Coach Tony Perkins an opportunity to tie Les Hipple for most career wins at the school.

Lions find their way, stop Spartans, 21-14

For 33 minutes, Linn-Mar looked like a lost football team.

Trailing Pleasant Valley 7-0 with the third quarter almost gone, the Lions were badly in need of a spark.

Facing a third and 12 from the Pleasant Valley 32, the ball was pitched to senior tailback Perrion Scott, who saw the ball glance off his hands and down to the turf. Instead of falling on it, Scott took a gamble and scooped it up and started to reverse field.

He turned the broken play into a near touchdown, coming all the way back across the field to reach the 1-yard line where quarterback Ryan Schmidt snuck across with the for the tying TD.

Scott's play swung the momentum to the Lions who scored two more TDs then held on for a 21-14 win over the visiting Spartans at Linn-Mar Stadium.

"I was thinking about diving on it, but we would have lost more yardage," Scott said. "We had been pushed back so many times that I thought I had to try and make a play and it happened.

Cedar Valley drubbed by Clarksville

Hand it to the 20 hardy boys on the Cedar Valley Christian 8-man football team: They never give up.

After 22 straight lopsided losses, they won the first game in school history last Friday, 30-20, over Harmony at Farmington. That win had even their parents jumping on the field with joy.

Agony followed ecstasy Friday at home on the LaSalle Field, however, as Clarksville scored on the second play of the game and was hardly touched while taking a 59-6 halftime lead.

“Don’t just roll over and die,” Cedar Valley Christian Coach Ed Betsworth exhorted his young charges from the sidelines at one point. “Go out and get ’em.”

And so they did.

The spunky Huskies scored three touchdowns in a row in the second half, slowed down the continuous clock and ended up losing by a more respectable score of 67-26 to an unbeaten Indians squad that figures to be one of the favorites in its division this year.