Metro Sports Report

Marion stumbles into playoffs with 17-16 loss

DEWITT - The Marion Indians won their district title and claimed a No. 1 seed for the Class 3A playoffs Friday night, but they didn't feel like winners.

They didn't play like winners, either.

Marion squandered a nine-point lead in the second half and lost to DeWitt Central, 17-16, in the final game of the regular season at DeWitt.

Hawks shrug off sluggish start; whip Wahawks

Wearing shorts on the sidelines in the cold drizzly rain Friday night, Prairie Coach Mike Morrissey watched his resurgent Hawks pour it on in the second half to douse Waterloo West, 31-7.

"I just don’t like wearing long pants,” explained the dripping wet, energetic and personable young coach afterward. “Year-round, I always wear shorts. It’s stupid, I  know.”

In his second year at Prairie, Morrissey beat long odds to take a team that was 2-7 last year into next week’s playoffs with a 6-3  mark.The Hawks are seeded 10th and will play at seventh-seeded Dubuque Senior (7-2) Wednesday night.

Is Lombardi down to final strike?

Washington High School football coach Tony Lombardi is a smart, funny and talented guy who cares about his players. Unfortunately, he seems to have a self-destruct button that gets him in trouble.

Washington High School parents complained about him last winter to the Cedar Rapids School District and he was instructed by the district to undergo "remediation," whatever that means.

Last week he had an unfortunate incident with a player from Cedar Rapids Prairie and the district has suspended him from Friday night's game at Dubuque Wahlert.

First remediation, now a suspension. If that's Strike 1 and Strike 2, he could be down to his final strike.

Fairly or unfairly, Lombardi has become a lightning rod in the community. And he's brought some of it - perhaps most of it - on himself.

Lombardi-less Warriors blank Wahlert

DUBUQUE – While this hasn’t been a banner year for Cedar Rapids Washington football, Mitch Blades and his Warrior teammates certainly put a nice bow on the season Friday.

Blades threw for two touchdowns and ran for another as Washington whipped Dubuque Wahlert, 38-0, in the season finale at the Rock Bowl.

The Warriors (3-6, 1-5) put up 21 points in the second quarter to stake themselves to a 28-0 halftime lead. Wahlert (1-8, 0-6) never mounted anything, gaining just 60 yards of total offense and four first downs in the game.

It was a nice cap to a week full of distractions for Washington. Head coach Tony Lombardi was suspended for the final game due to a post-game incident last week with a Prairie player.