Wednesdays are scrimmage days for Linn-Mar during the regular season. They are usually more strenuous than the workout the Lions got against Clinton.

Mark Atwater raced 66 yards for a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage to start No. 2 Linn-Mar's 47-0 rout of Clinton in the first round of the Class 4A playoffs Wednesday night at Linn-Mar Stadium.

Linn-Mar advances to Monday's second round. The Lions (10-0) will host Cedar Rapids Washington, which beat Davenport Assumption, 38-35. The Lions drilled the Warriors, 56-7, in a Week 7 game at Kingston Stadium.

Atwater finished with 84 yards and two touchdowns, and also completed all four of his passes for 77 yards and another score. He did all that in the first quarter, which ended with the Lions holding a 27-0 lead.

"I suppose I'd run it a little more and do a little more (in a practice)," Atwater said. "But this was a pretty good Wednesday for us. We toned it back a little bit, especially with what happened to Mitch (Wantock). We don't want anything happening for later on. Coach Forsyth worries about that."

Wantock, an 1,100 yard rusher, broke his ankle in Linn-Mar's regular-season finale against Xavier last Friday night. Senior Brandon Ophoff started and ran for 58 yards, and sophomore Ross Lembeck also made an impression with 89 yards and a touchdown.

"We wanted to find out some things," Linn-Mar Coach Bob Forsyth said. "We got some guys in and were able to play them, so it was good."

"Brandon did a good job tonight (and) Ross did a good job tonight," Atwater said. "I've got confidence in both of them.

"We're probably going to have a tough few days between those two fighting for a spot."

Tougher than the game against Clinton.

"Tuesdays and Wednesdays are big hitting days for us, so it was basically the same thing," Linn-Mar senior linebacker Tommy Feller said. "We would maybe get in a little more (hitting)."

First-stringers were hard to find on the Linn-Mar side after the first quarter, which ended with the Lions holding a 27-0 lead. And yet, the scoring never subsided.

Linn-Mar scored on all seven of its possessions in the first half and also recovered a blocked punt in the end zone for another touchdown in building a 47-0 lead by halftime. The Lions had 303 yards in the first half and held Clinton (3-7) to just 30. The River Kings finished with 106 yards, just 13 yards rushing.

"We've played really good all year. We play as a team," said Feller, who only played one quarter. "It's great to hold them to that few yards."

The second half was a breeze with a running clock.

"We did what we needed to do tonight," Atwater said. "We're moving on and at this point that's what you need to do."

LINN-MAR 47, CLINTON 0

Clinton        0     0      0      0    -      0
Linn-Mar     27   20     0       0    -    47

LM - Mark Atwater 66 run (Quinn Treiber kick)
LM - Zach Martins 11 run (pass failed)
LM - Andy Henry 20 pass from Atwater (kick failed)
LM - Atwater 20 run (Jacob Hutchins pass from Atwater)
LM - FG Treiber 34
LM - Dakota Digmann blocked punt recovery in end zone (Treiber kick)
LM - FG Treiber 32
LM - Ross Lembeck 4 run (Treiber kick)

Team Stats

First Downs - CLIN 6, LM 15

Rushes-yards - CLIN 29-13, LM 34-238

Passing yards - CLIN 93, LM 77

Comp-Att-Int - CLIN 9-20-2, LM 4-4-0

Punts-avg. - CLIN 5-15.8, LM 1-22

Fumbles-lost - CLIN 2-1, LM 2-0

Penalties-yards - CLIN 3-32, LM 7-70

Individual Stats

Clinton

Rushing - Ryan Driscoll 19-21, Will Carr 10-(-8).

Passing - Carr 9-20-2-93.

Receiving - Driscoll 4-31, Cody Collendar 3-44, Seth Penock 1-14, Travis Morehead 1-4

Linn-Mar

Rushing - Ross Lembeck 9-89, Mark Atwater 4-84, Brandon Ophoff 13-58, Zach Martins 1-11, Jake Luerkens 4-10, Michael Redmond 2-4, Kyle Kruger 1 (-18).

Passing - Atwater 4-4-0-77.

Receiving - Andy Henry 3-40, Jacob Hutchins 1-37.