IOWA CITY – One mark of a good football team is the ability to bounce back from adversity.

The Washington Warriors did that in impressive fashion Friday at the expense of Iowa City West.

Washington overcame a sloppy, penalty-marred opening drive to pound West, 42-13, on the road.

The victory came a week after Washington’s 28-24 loss to Kennedy.

“They just really motivated us,” Washington senior Isaiah Nimmers said of the Kennedy players. “They set us back. They really did.

“So everybody was hungry this week. There was no messing around. So that was probably the worst thing (Kennedy) could’ve done.”

The speedy Nimmers took two big bites out of the West defense by catching touchdown passes from senior quarterback TJ Vogel that covered 27 and 74 yards. Nimmers’ 27-yard touchdown reception came as time expired in the first half, while his 74-yard grab came after West had scored its first touchdown of the game to trim the lead to 21-7.

“That was a real backbreaker because they had a little momentum at that time, I think,” said Washington coach Paul James. “They thought maybe they were back in the game and then that really kind of squashed that.”

Nimmers told his coaches that he felt he could beat his single coverage by faking a shorter route near the sideline and going deep.

“He let us know that he thought we might be able to fake that and then go deep, and that’s exactly what we did,” James said.

Washington attacked through the air from start to finish as Vogel completed 17-of-25 passes for 278 yards three touchdowns. The Warriors (2-1) also had 234 rushing yards.

“The way they tried to stop our run made us able to throw the ball as well,” James said. “We just tried to take what they were giving us and mix up the run and pass as best we could.”

Once they stopped committing penalties, the Warriors could not be stopped on offense. Vogel felt confident running any play as the game progressed.

“This week we were thinking we could only run certain plays,” he said. "And then we were like, ‘You know what? We can really run anything and we can beat them on it.'”

Vogel said it helps having a receiver like the 5-foot-9, 170-pound Nimmers, who is one of the most explosive players in the state.

“It’s awesome,” Vogel said. “We’ve been good buddies for a long time and I’ve been waiting for a long time to be able throw it to him and let him do what he does.”

Nimmers feels confident he can win any matchup against single coverage.

“I know with one-on-one coverage I can probably beat anybody in the state,” he said. “So it’s always good.”

After a scoreless first quarter, Washington scored three touchdowns in the second quarter and led 21-0 at halftime. The Warriors expanded their lead to 35-7 when senior running back Tavian Patrick scored from seven yards on the first play of the fourth quarter.

The shifty Patrick also scored Washington’s final touchdown on a 22-yard run with 6:16 left in the fourth quarter. West scored its two touchdowns on a 22-yard run by senior quarterback Alex Henderson in the third quarter and on a 90-yard kick return by junior Devontae Lane early in the fourth quarter.

The Warrior defense held West (0-3) to just 16 yards in the first half and zero first downs. Patrick led Washington with 98 rushing yards, while 6-0, 225-pound senior Johnny Dobbs added 91 rushing yards.

Dobbs scored the game’s first touchdown on a 1-yard run with 9:31 left in the first quarter. Vogel connected with 6-6, 230-pound senior tight end Dallas Hobbs for an 8-yard scoring strike with 59 seconds left in the second quarter.

Washington then forced West to punt after running just three plays. The Warriors took possession at the West 36-yard line with 26 seconds left before halftime. Nimmers scored on his 27-yard reception as time expired to end the first half.

Both teams combined for 19 penalties, including 14 in the first half.

“We just had to lock it in mentally,” Vogel said. “We had a rough week last week and I think it took a little while to come back. But once we locked it in, we knew we could hand it to them.”

.                        CRW      ICW

First downs             22          6

Rushes-yards     49-234    20-64

Passing yards         278        67

Comp-Att-Int    17-25-0   8-19-1

Fumbles-lost           1-0       0-0

Punts-avg.         2-32.0   5-39.0

Penalties-yards   10-101      9-72

Washington      0 21 7 14 - 42

Iowa City West 0   0 7   6 - 13

Scoring plays

CRW - Johnny Dobbs 1 run (Ross Kennedy kick)

CRW - Dallas Hobbs 8 pass from TJ Vogel (Kennedy kick)

CRW - Isaiah Nimmers 27 pass from Vogel (Kennedy kick)

ICW - Alex Henderson 22 run (Will Peterson kick)

CRW - Nimmers 74 pass from Vogel (Kennedy kick)

CRW - Tavian Patrick 7 run (Kennedy kick)

ICW - Devontae Lane 90 kickoff return (kick failed)

CRW - Patrick 22 run (Kennedy kick)

Individual statistics

Passing

Washington - Vogel 17-25-0, 278.

IC West - Henderson 8-19-1, 67.

Rushing

Washington - Patrick 21-98, Dobbs 14-91, B.Nassif 4-17, N.Nassif 2-0, Stewart 3-8, Vogel 3-2, Thomas 2-7.

IC West - Henderson 12-36, Hicks 4-16, Carter 3-8, Lane 1-4, Koch 1-4.

Receiving

Washington - Nimmers 6-146, Dostal 2-30, Hobbs 2-23, B.Nassif 2-19, Stewart 1-3, Patrick 2-17.

IC West - N/A.