As they rolled to a 40-0 home win over Waterloo West Friday night, the only thing that stopped the sixth-ranked Linn-Mar Lions was the clock.

They scored both on the ground and through the air to take a 37-0 halftime lead. With the continuous clock running the rest of the way, the game was over less than a half-hour later.

Still, Linn-Mar Coach Bob Forsyth was less than completely satisfied.

"We played a respectable game," he said. "But we still have a lot of things to work on, defensively and offensively. We saw some things we still need to correct."

Waterloo West did hold them under their 43.7 points per game season average (third in the state) and improved slightly on last year's 45-0 shellacking.

But, in truth, it was no contest right from the start. Pretty much what you'd except from a 0-4 team that has been outscored 164-68 against a 4-0 team with a 171-46 scoring margin.

As is usually the case, star quarterback Mark Atwater was the straw that stirred the drink for Linn-Mar. And this time, it was on defense as well as offense.

Playing from his linebacker spot, the muscle-bound 6-foot-1, 200-pound senior recovered a West fumble at the 13-yard line with 3:17 left in the first half and two plays later handed off to senior running back Mitch Wantock for the Lions' fifth touchdown.

Then, after Waterloo opened the second half by fielding an onside kickoff at midfield, Atwater teamed with senior lineman A.J. Garcia for a sack that snuffed West's momentary momentum.

Atwater soon followed that with a 30-yard pass to junior receiver Zach Martins down to the 17. Stalled for one of the few times all night, however, Linn-Mar settled for a 28-yard field goal by dead-eye kicker Quinn Treiber to close the scoring with 2:42 left in the third quarter.

Atwater was 13 of 20 passing for 215 yards and two touchdowns. And he spread the ball around, connecting with six different receivers. Senior Andy Henry had four grabs for 51 yards, including a 23-yard touchdown to open the scoring with 8:08 left in the first quarter.

Atwater's other scoring strike went for 28 yards to receiver and back-up quarterback Jake Luerkens with 4:05 left in the second quarter.

Martins had three catches for 56 yards, Michael Redmond three for 19, Travis Kvach two for 61 and tight end Jacob Hutchins one for seven yards.

"It felt good to roll out and put a lot of points on the board early," Atwater said. "After rushing for over 500 yards last week, we showed a little bit that we can throw the ball, too. It was nice to kind of explode in the passing game."

Far less dependent on the ground than they were in a school record-setting performance a week ago in a 54-22 drubbing of Dubuque Wahlert, the Lions were led Friday night by Wantock's 61 yards on eight carries and two touchdowns.

The other rushing score came from five yards by junior Nick Trabucco. Meanwhile, Waterloo West never came close to a score and was held to just 82 yards rushing and 59 yards passing.

"It was great to get a shutout," said leading tackler Tommy Feller, a 5-foot-11, 180-pound sparkplug linebacker. "That's what we've been wanting all year. But I think we could have stopped the run a little better."

Forsyth, who handles much of the defensive coaching, thinks so, too.

"We've got a big rivalry game with Prairie next week," he said. "I feel fortunate to be 4-0, but we've got a ton of tough games ahead. We've got our work cut out for us."

LINN-MAR 40, WATERLOO WEST 0

L-M      WW

First downs         18        11
Rushing             23-113    33-82
Passing             14-21-0   8-16-1
Passing Yards       232       59
Total yards         345       141
Turnovers             0       3
Penalties           1-11      1-5

Waterloo West         0     0     0   0 -  0
Linn-Mar                 16    21    3   0 - 40

Sophomore Game: Linn-Mar 41, Waterloo West 13