One by one, most of them crying, the seniors on the Cedar Rapids Washington football squad hugged their younger teammates after the game at Kingston Stadium Friday night.

Coach Tony Lombardi waited for each of them at the end of the line, greeting each player with a firm, lingering embrace and soft words of consolation.

"Good job. You played well. I love you," he said, one after another.

Washington's remarkable season ended with tears in the quarterfinals of the Class 4A playoffs. Disappointed Warriors were still mingling on the field 45 minutes after it ended.

Barkley Hill killed them. So did two turnovers.

Hill broke loose for 231 yards and five touchdowns as No. 6 Cedar Falls stopped the Warriors, 35-32, in a memorable contest on a cool night in November.

"After the game, I looked at the scoreboard, and not for one second do I want to take this helmet off," said an emotional Storhm "Hurricane" Henry, who was a stalwart in the trenches all night for Washington. "I want to keep it on."

The Warriors (8-4) stopped Hill early and owned a 24-14 lead late in the third quarter. A trip to the 4A semifinals in the UNI-Dome was within reach, but it went downhill from there.

Hill showed why he's got a scholarship waiting for him at Iowa State with a spectacular display in the final 13 minutes of the game. He exploded for touchdown scampers of 19, 33 and 50 yards on three straight possessions to grab hold of the game.

Washington committed two straight turnovers in the middle of Hill's heroics, and that turned Washington's 24-14 lead into a 35-24 deficit in less than 5 minutes.

It was another remarkable performance by Hill, who has rambled for 2,427 yards and 40 touchdowns this season as the premier high school tailback in the state.

"He's a hard runner, that's for sure," said Washington senior Flynn Heald. "He's hard to bring down and he lays the wood, there's no question about it.

"On my punt return, I didn't even realize he was the punter and he just HIT me, and I was like, 'Oh my gosh, their punter can hit.' "

Hill excelled as a tailback, linebacker and punter. "He's just good," Lombardi said. "We couldn't tackle him."

Washington, famous for furious comebacks and last-second victories this season, pulled within 35-32 with 6:07 left on a 1-yard touchdown by David Tann and a two-point conversion by Braedon Tovey.

The Warriors forced a punt, and Hill may have saved the day for Cedar Falls (11-1) when he leaped high for the snap, brought it down and booted the ball to the Washington 26. If he hadn't caught that snap, the Warriors could have been sniffing the goal line for a go-ahead score.

As it was, the Warriors got the ball at their own 26 with 3:11 remaining. There was plenty of time for another miracle finish, especially with two timeouts, but nothing happened.

Nothing good, anyway.

Tovey scrambled on 4th-and-10, running desperately for a first down to try and maintain possession of the ball. He approached the first-down marker and slammed his body into a pack of Tigers, trying valiantly to reach the 36 and a first down.

It looked like the officials would call for the chains and take a measurement, but they spotted the ball at the 35, a full yard short. There was no need to measure.

"Where I was standing, he was clearly across the down marker, so he must have gone out of bounds or something," Lombardi said. "Oh, well."

Cedar Falls took over at the 35 with 2:38 to go. Washington had another timeout in its pocket, but Cedar Falls quarterback Grant Grainger ran for one first down and the Tigers got another first down when the Warriors grabbed Hill's face mask for a personal foul.

Cedar Falls easily ran out the clock from there. Meanwhile, the Warriors regretted what might have been.

"That last play on offense," said Tovey, still battling his emotions well after the game had ended. "It's a game of inches, and that's exactly what it came down to.

"If we would have gotten that (first down), I know we could have drove the rest of the way."

The Warriors upset Iowa City High, 27-24, with 10 seconds left this season and stunned Linn-Mar, 28-26, with nine seconds to go, both times on touchdown passes by Tovey.

They desperately wanted a repeat against Cedar Falls, but it didn't happen.

"If Tovey gets that first down ... I thought he had it," Tann said. "If we get that first down, I think it's just like every other game this year. We're coming, we're scoring."

Washington held Hill to 53 yards in the first half and led, 10-7, at intermission. Washington senior Ryan Cain raced 91 yards with the second-half kickoff for a 17-7 advantage, but Cedar Falls quickly countered and made it 17-14 on a 1-yard TD by Hill.

Tovey scored on a quarterback sneak to make it 24-14, but that was the high-water mark for the Warriors.

Hill scored on a 19-yard run to make it 24-21. Tovey threw his only interception of the night and Hill gave the Tigers a 28-24 lead with a 33-yard burst, slipping a tackle on his way to the end zone.

Mitch Bredeson fumbled on Washington's next possession, and Hill sprinted 50 yards to make it 35-24. This time, it was too much to overcome.

"When we turned it over the first time, we were in a little trouble," Lombardi said. "When we turned it over a second time, we were in big trouble."

This Hill was too high to climb.

"He's a strong runner," Henry said. "Our goal tonight was not to hit him high, but tackle him low, get them legs to stop moving. Sometimes it worked and sometimes we tackled him too high and he kept going."

Cedar Falls (11-1) will face Bettendorf (11-1) in the semifinals next Friday at 4:30 p.m. in the UNI-Dome. West Des Moines Valley (12-0) will play Ankeny (11-1) in the other semifinal at 7:30.

Washington made a strong run in the playoffs with exciting victories over Davenport Assumption, 38-35, and Linn-Mar, 28-26, with both of those games on the road. Ironically, the Warriors lost on their home turf for the fourth time Friday night.

The Warriors accepted a handsome trophy for reaching the quarterfinals, then Lombardi made sure his players went over to the stands and thanked fans for their support.

When that was done, Lombardi told the underclassmen to form two lines on the field and had the seniors walk between them for a final farewell at Kingston. Tears flowed freely.

"I measure the success of a season based on exactly that reaction," Lombardi said. "Frankly, if I don't get that kind of reaction at the end of the season, I feel I've failed them.

"Hopefully we've given them enough in the program, they don't want to leave it. I'm pleased they had so much passion and that this is important. I think when you watch them play, it's clear these kids care with every fiber of their being."

CEDAR FALLS 35, WASHINGTON  32

CF         CRW

First Downs        16         21
Rushing            45-282     39-236
Passing            4-7-0      14-29-1
Passing Yards      60         149
Punts              6-36.7     1-38.0
Fumbles/Lost       0/0        1/1
Penalties          6-35       2-17

Cedar Falls      0   7   14   14 - 35
Washington       3   7   14    8 - 32

SCORING PLAYS

CRW - FG Michael Daughtery 24
CF - Barkley Hill 14 run (Jacob Fagersten PAT)
CRW - Mitch Bredeson 2 run (Daughtery PAT)
CRW - Ryan Cain 91 kickoff return (Daughtery PAT)
CF - Hill 1 run (Fagersten PAT)
CRW - Braedon Tovey 1 run (Daughtery PAT)
CF - Hill 19 run (Fagersten PAT)
CF - Hill 33 run (Fagersten PAT)
CF - Hill 50 run (Fagersten PAT)
CRW - Tann 1 run (Tovey run)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Cedar Falls:

Rushing: Barkley Hill 32-231, Brayden Longnecker 4-20, James Harrington 3-20, Ben Challgren 3-13, Team 3-minus 2.
Passing: Grant Grainger 3-6-0, 36; Longnecker 1-1-0, 24.
Receiving: Harrington 3-27, Jake Gallu 1-33.

Washington:

Rushing: David Tann 9-100, Will Griffin 8-63, Mitch Bredeson 15-40, Braedon Tovey 5-25, Flynn Heald 2-8.
Passing: Tovey 14-29-1, 149.
Receiving: Heald 5-55, Mitch Blades 4-45, Jason Oney 3-33, Ryan Cain 1-9, Tann 1-7.