IOWA CITY - Tony Lombardi played football at Arizona State and coached at two schools in the Big Ten, so he's seen a few remarkable games over the years.

Nothing tops what he saw Friday night in Iowa City, when The Drive stopped The Streak.

Braedon Tovey fired a 5-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Cain with 10 seconds left to cap a brilliant 69-yard drive as the Washington Warriors stunned No. 2 Iowa City High, 27-24, at Bates Field.

The Little Hawks had won 33 straight regular-season games in the Mississippi Valley Conference before running into the Warriors, who spoiled their homecoming.

Washington got the ball at its own 31-yard line with 6:49 left in the game, trailing 24-20, and never gave it back to City High, keeping Little Hawk tailback Ronald Thompson harmlessly on the bench. It was ball control at its best.

The Warriors drove 69 yards in 18 plays, collecting five first downs and methodically moving down the field until they hit paydirt on Tovey's missile to Cain in the end zone.

"Braedon put the ball on the money, the offensive line blocked great," said Cain, who missed the first four games of the season with a broken collarbone. "It was just a great overall sequence."

The Warriors shook hands with the Little Hawks, hugged everyone in sight, celebrated with fans and finally gathered at midfield to hear what Lombardi had to say. The coach had to shout, because his players were still yelling and screaming happily.

"I sincerely believe that was the greatest game on the planet," Lombardi told his club. "I want to congratulate you on what you found out about yourselves tonight.

"Football is a chess match played by gladiators," he shouted, "and tonight you became gladiators!"

The victory was no fluke. Washington ran nearly twice as many plays as the Little Hawks (74 to 40), controlled the time of possession (30 minutes to just 18 minutes for City High), had twice as many first downs (22 to 11) and gained more yards (346 to 305).

Will Griffin returned to action after missing the first five games of the season with a bum ankle and gave the Warriors a lift with 52 tough yards on 19 carries, including a couple of hard-nosed runs on the final drive that produced first downs.

Lombardi wanted to give Griffin a taste Friday night, but never imagined he'd lug the ball 19 times against the second-ranked team in the state.

"That's a great way to come back from ankle surgery," said Griffin, all smiles. "It was just like my ankle didn't even hurt, like the surgery didn't even happen.

"Everybody was doubting us," he said. "We knew everybody thought we were going to lose and they'd blow us out.

"We ignored all that and stayed focused. We knew we were going to hit them in the mouth. We were prepared for that."

The Drive stopped The Streak. The Little Hawks had not lost an MVC conference game since late in the 2007 campaign.

"First off, hats off to Wash," City High Coach Dan Sabers said. "I thought they played very good football. I mean, that last drive was a thing of beauty.

"We weren't that bad," he said. "We were playing hard and getting after it and hitting them. They'd always find a way to get that extra yard and get that first down and keep the chains moving.

"A couple of those pass plays, their guys are diving and making catches," Sabers said. "I think Coach Lombardi and his staff and his players deserve a hell of a lot of credit."

Lombardi wanted to keep Thompson on the sideline as much as possible and it worked. Thompson carried the ball 21 times for 153 yards and a 47-yard TD, but the Warriors could live with that.

Thompson was averaging 214 yards per game and shredded Iowa City West for 362 this year. With Thompson neutralized, the Warriors rolled up their sleeves and went to work.

Tovey executed a brilliant hurry-up, no-huddle drive at the end of the first half, taking the Warriors 66 yards in 84 seconds with a series of pinpoint passes to Flynn Heald, Cain and Jason Oney. Heald switched to quarterback on the final play and scored on a 1-yard run as time expired in the half, making it 14-14.

Iowa City High (5-1) took a 21-14 lead, but Washington cut it to 21-20 on a 13-yard touchdown run by David Tann midway through the third quarter. The Warriors missed the PAT, so they trailed by a point.

The Little Hawks made it 24-20 with a field goal late in the third quarter, and that set the stage for the fourth stanza and Washington's remarkable drive.

"In the huddle we kept our composure," Tovey remarked. "We said 'Play smart and play City High football.' That's what it was. Pound it down their throat."

There were 6 minutes, 49 seconds on the clock when the Warriors got the ball at their own 31-yard line. Griffin picked up a first down on 3rd-and-2, then Tann moved the chains with a 10-yard run.

Heald switched from receiver to quarterback and ran for 7 yards, giving Washington a first down at the City High 34, but then came trouble. The Warriors were staring at 4th-and-7 at the 31 with 1:45 left when Tovey hit Cain for an 8-yard gain and a first down at the 23, keeping their upset hopes alive.

Washington (4-2) faced a 3rd-and-2 at the 15 with 50 seconds left when Griffin bulled for three yards and a first down at the 12. Lombardi used his second timeout with 41.9 seconds to go.

Tann was stopped for no gain, then Tovey hit Heald with a 7-yard pass to the 5. That's when Lambardi called his third and final timeout with 16 seconds remaining.

The Warriors called a 256 pass play, with Cain the primary target. Tovey fired a bullet, Cain caught it in the end zone and Washington had a 26-24 lead. Exactly 10.8 seconds were left in the game. Michael Daughtery kicked the PAT to make it 27-24.

The Little Hawks tried some razzle-dazzle on their kickoff return, but it ended with a forward lateral as the clock showed all zeroes. The Warriors raced around the field in glee.

"Oh, boy. This is huge," Tovey said. "They had like a 30-game win streak or something in the Mississippi Valley Conference, No. 2 in the state, hadn't had a close game yet."

Lombardi never dreamed of letting Griffin carry the ball 19 times, but the 5-foot-8, 200-pound senior kept chugging away, gaining precious yards and taking precious time off the clock. Griffin figured he was "about 80 percent," but it was good enough.

"I knew there was no way for him to get healthy other than to play," Lombardi said. "He's been limping around practice like he's been dead, because it's just not a game environment, it's not emotional. Tonight he had some adrenaline flowing and emotion, so we let him go."

Neither team punted in the game, which partially led to City High losing the game. Sabers gambled on City High's first possesion and got a first down on 4th-and-1 at his own 25-yard line when Jasper Washington rambled for 51 yards out of a short-punt formation, putting the Little Hawks in position for their first touchdown.

Sabers tried it again on his second possession, and this time it backfired. He called for a fake punt on 4th-and-6 from his own 13-yard line, and this time Jasper Washington was stopped a yard short of a first down.

That gave the Warriors the ball at the City High 18-yard line and they took advantage, scoring on a 5-yard run by Tovey to tie the score 7-7.

"This is our style, and we believe in getting after people," said Sabers, who hates to punt. "That's the way we're going to play. Yes it is."

It helped the Warriors win "the greatest game on the planet," according to their victorious coach.

WASHINGTON 27, IOWA CITY HIGH 24

CRW         ICH

First Downs         22            11
Rushes            56-237      35-241
Passing           12-18-1       2-5-0
Passing Yards    109            64
Punts                0               0
Fumbles/Lost     0/0         0/0
Penalties          6-45        5-31

Washington     0   14    6   7 - 27
City High         7    7    10  0 - 24

ICH - Jeremy Johnson 11 run (Drew Cornwell kick)
CRW - Braedon Tovey 5 run (Michael Daughtery kick)
ICH - Ronald Thompson 47 run (Cornwell kick)
CRW - Flynn Heald 1 run (Daughtery kick)
ICH - Johnson 37 pass from Jasper Washington (Cornwell kick)
CRW - David Tann 13 run (kick failed)
ICH - FG Cornwell 29
CRW - Ryan Cain 5 pass from Tovey (Daughtery kick)

Individual Statistics

Rushing

Washington: Tann 13-83, Tovey 6-54, Griffin 19-52, Bredeson 13-37,   Heald 5-11.
City High: Thompson 21-153, Washington 11-61, Johnson 2-25, Dailey 1-2.

Passing

Washington: Tovey 12-18-1, 109 yards.
City High: Washington 2-5-0, 64 yards.

Receiving:

Washington: Heald 7-64, Cain 4-30, Oney 1-15.
City High: Johnson 1-37, Ferentz 1-27.