Cedar Rapids Washington's Flynn Heald (2, left) tries to evade Linn-Mar's Spencer Clabough (2) and Michael Redmond (6) in the first half of their playoff game at Linn-Mar on Monday, Oct. 31, 2011, in Marion. (Liz Martin/SourceMedia Group News)

MARION — Braedon Tovey felt a headache at the end of the game.

He created a bigger one.

Tovey engineered two touchdown drives in the final 5 minutes as Cedar Rapids Washington stunned No. 2 Linn-Mar, 28-26, in a Class 4A second-round playoff football game Monday night at Linn-Mar Stadium.

The outcome was a 51-point swing from the teams’ regular-season meeting (a 56-7 Linn-Mar win in Week 7), and the Warriors (8-3) beat a top-10 team for the third time this season.

“It feels good to get what we deserve,” said Flynn Heald, who caught a 3-yard pass from Tovey for the winning touchdown with 9 seconds left. “We don’t care what’s in our way. We’re Warriors, and we have to fight like Warriors.”

Washington will face No. 6 Cedar Falls in a quarterfinal Friday at Kingston Stadium. The Tigers (10-1) beat Iowa City High, 21-7, Monday.

Linn-Mar retired at 10-1. The Lions owned a 26-14 lead when Mark Atwater scored on a 1-yard touchdown run with 5:55 left, but they couldn’t hold it.

“We had a lot of chances to give up,” said Coach Tony Lombardi, who called the win his best at Washington.

“It’s been a roller-coaster year, and these kids have fought through a lot of adversity.”

Washington drove 53 yards in six plays (and only 69 seconds) to get within 26-21. Tovey connected with Mitch Blades on a 7-yard TD pass with 4:46 left.

Linn-Mar got one first down on its ensuing drive, but had to punt it away with 2:08 left.

As it turned out, it was plenty of time.

Tovey and Heald hooked up three times on the winning 58-yard drive. A 24-yarder on third-and-4 moved the ball to the Lions 28.

Another third-down conversion by Tovey — an 11-yard run — gave the Warriors first-and-goal from the 7, and Washington scored three plays later when Tovey found Heald in the left side of the end zone.

“It was a 5-yard out pattern,” Tovey said. “He ran to the corner, and there he was.”

Tovey admitted to feeling a headache late in the game. But this was no concussion.

“It was just the stress of the game,” he said. “The last 6 minutes, I was screaming as loud as I could.”

He was screaming. He was leading.

Tovey completed just 9 of 20 passes for 118 yards, but threw three touchdowns.

So now, the Warriors are one of only eight teams still standing in 4A.

Linn-Mar quarterback Mark Atwater rushed for 140 yards (on 32 carries) and passed for 113. But he surrendered a pair of first-half interceptions when the Lions appeared that they were about to take control of the game.

“I’m proud of our kids,” said Lions Coach Bob Forsyth. “It just didn’t happen for us tonight. We couldn’t finish.

“We had a great season. I’m just sorry it ended this way.”

Despite three first-half turnovers (Zach Martins fumbled deep in Washington territory after intercepting a pass), Linn-Mar led 17-14 at intermission.

Quinn Treiber’s second field goal, a 24-yarder, made it 20-14, then Atwater’s 1-yard run extended the margin to 26-14, and the Lions looked safe.

But the Warriors made all the plays in the final 5 minutes.

“It was a family effort, what can I say?” Tovey said.

Heald said, “We had a motivational speech on Sunday. Our heads were right tonight.”

Even if Tovey’s hurt a little.

C.R. Washington 28, Linn-Mar 26

AT LINN-MAR STADIUM

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing:  C.R. Washington – Mitch Bredeson 14-46 , Will Griffin 12-36 , Braedon Tovey 6-30 , David Tann 2-6 , Flynn Heald 1-0  Linn-Mar – Mark Atwater 32-140 , Nick Trabucco 5-42 , Ross Lembeck 7-25 , Brandon Ophoff 5-22 , Andy Henry 1-3

Passing:  C.R. Washington – Tovey 9-20-1-118  Linn-Mar – Atwater 7-15-2-113

Receiving:  C.R. Washington – Heald 4-44 , Ryan Cain 3-31 , Tann 1-23 , Mitch Blades 1-20  Linn-Mar – Henry 5-53 , Zach Martins 1-43 , Miachael Redmond 1-17

SCORE BY QUARTERS

SCORING SUMMARY

LM - Mark Atwater 27 run (Quinn Treiber kick)
CRW - Will Griffin 1 run (Michael Daugherty kick)
LM - Treiber FG 37
CRW - David Tann 23 pass from Braedon Tovey (Daugherty kick)
LM - Michael Redmond 17 pass from Atwater (Treiber kick)
LM - Treiber FG 24
LM - Atwater 1 run (run failed)
CRW - Mitch Blades 20 pass from Tovey (Daugherty kick)
CRW - Flynn Heald 3 pass from Tovey (Daugherty kick)