CEDAR FALLS - Kennedy senior Alex Hillyer cried as the left the UNI-Dome floor late Monday night.

They were tears of sadness, but also tears of pride.

"I can't believe it's over," he said softly as he walked slowly toward the locker room, his right elbow raw and bloodied. "We made a good run."

Teammates put their arms around him as he left the field. Later, the Cedar Falls Tigers paid their respects, patting him on his shoulder pads as they passed by.

"Great game, man," one of the Tigers said. "Hell of a game," said another.

Hillyer carried the ball 29 for 118 yards, scored two touchdowns, intercepted a pass and made a slew of tackles for the Kennedy Cougars in their Class 4A playoff game against No. 8 Cedar Falls in the UNI-Dome, but it wasn't nearly enough.

Cedar Falls broke three long touchdown runs of 89, 80 and 78 yards and stopped the Cinderella Cougars, 35-15, in the second round of the playoffs.

Kennedy went farther than anyone thought possible a month ago when they were sitting with an ugly 0-and-5 record. Instead of folding, they ticked off five straight wins and gave the Tigers a good battle for much of the night before falling short.

Hillyer ended his senior season with 1,657 yards on the ground, a school record by a considerable amount, and registered 20 touchdowns in a memorable campaign.

"We had fun while it lasted," he said.

Hillyer was the last Cougar to reach the locker room, where Coach Tim Lewis gathered the club for some heartfelt remarks.

"Gentlemen," Lewis began, "I'm really, really proud of this football team. Had somebody told me after the fifth game of the season that we'd play 11 games and finish our season in the UNI-Dome, I'm not sure what I would have said.

"I never quit believing in you. If you've got to lose, you lose in the UNI-Dome in the 11th game, fighting your ass off. And that's exactly what you did."

The Cougars (5-6) won their last four games of the regular season to reach the playoffs, then upset Muscatine 20-17 last Wednesday to make the Sweet 16.

"You should walk away from your high school careers with absolutely no regrets," Lewis said. "And that's an awesome, awesome thing.

"I think you've learned a valuable life lesson, and that's to never give up. Great effort. I'm proud of you guys. We're going to walk out of here with our heads held high."

The three long touchdown runs by Cedar Falls spelled the difference in the game.

Eli Berregaard broke loose for an 89-yard touchdown, Brayden Longnecker rambled for an 80-yard score and Jake Buck had a 78-yard touchdown. It was good running by the Tigers, but also poor tackling by the normally hard-hitting Cougars.

Those three plays long TDs accounted for 247 yards for Cedar Falls, which finished with 470 yards of total offense. Buck scooted for 148 yards, Berregaard collected 141 and Longnecker had 111 as all three Tigers topped the century mark.

Hillyer countered with 118 yards, but it was some of the toughest 118 he's ever had to get. He didn't have much breathing room until he popped for a 39-yard touchdown with 3:24 left in the game.

Kennedy finished with 210 yards of total offense, less than half the amount collected by Cedar Falls. Quarterback Riley Fergus had a rough night, going 4-for-16 through the air for just 37 yards and an interception.

The Kennedy-Cedar Falls contest was the nightcap of a playoff doubleheader in the UNI-Dome and did not start until 9 p.m. The clock struck midnight for the Cinderella Cougars a little early at 11:09 p.m., when their glass slipper finally fell off.

"First of all, let me congratulate the Kennedy Cougars," said Pat Mitchell, the Hall of Fame coach of the Cedar Falls Tigers. "That coaching staff ... to be zero-and-five and put that team back together at 5-and-0 is tremendous.

"Hat's off to them," he said. "They did a great job. The players did a great job."

Cedar Falls (10-1) will visit No. 4 Pleasant Valley (11-0) in the quarterfinals Friday night. The winner of that game plays the winner of Friday's Prairie-Xavier game in the state semifinals on Nov. 9 at the UNI-Dome.

"Our defense played well. We're real happy with it," Mitchell said. "We seem to get a little bit better every week."

CEDAR FALLS 35, KENNEDY 15

CRK        CF

First Downs         12         15
Rushing             48-173     41-383
Passing             4-16-1     5-11-2
Passing Yards       37         87
Punts               8-41.4     3-44.0
Penalties           3-17       3-25
Fumbles/Lost        0/0        2/1

Kennedy       0   7   0   8 - 15
Cedar Falls   7   7   7  14 - 35

SCORING PLAYS

CF - Brayden Longnecker 26 pass from Brian Cook (Jacob Newton kick)
CRK - Alex Hillyer 1 run (Eric Bertroche kick)
CF - Eli Berregaard 89 run (Newton kick)
CF - Jake Buck 78 run (Newton kick)
CF - Longnecker 80 run (Newton kick)
CF - Berregaard 2 run (Newton kick)
CRK - Hillyer 39 run (Hillyer run)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING
KENNEDY: Hillyer 29-118, Moa 5-25, Fergus 8-12, Hall 5-9, Wedo 1-9.
CEDAR FALLS: Buck 22-148, Berregaard 12-141, Longnecker 2-111, Geisler 1-1, Team 1-minus 1, Ferguson 2-minus, Cook 1-minus 16.

PASSING
KENNEDY: Fergus 4-16-1, 37 yards.
CEDAR FALLS: Cook 5-11-2, 87 yards.

RECEIVING
KENNEDY: Martin 2-21, Hall 1-8, Smetzer 1-8.
CEDAR FALLS: Longnecker 3-60, Boettger 2-27.