CEDAR FALLS - Cedar Falls inducted 40 former athletes into the schools Hall of Fame before Fridays football clash with Cedar Rapids Washington.

Then a group of 2005 Tigers treated their predecessors to a performance for the ages, blasting Cedar Rapids Washington 35-0 in a flawless showing.

Taylor Brookins and the Curran Connection - quarterback Ben to brother Nate, a wideout - accounted for much of the carnage on the night, as the host Tigers dropped 21 points on their opponents in the second quarter to gain a stranglehold on a lead they would never relinquish. That made the Tigers 2005 homecoming contest a roaring success.

It also allowed the aforementioned trio an opportunity to effectively stuff the ballot box, making an emphatic campaign for their induction into the annals of CFHS some day.

"Were really pleased," Nate Curran said after reeling in a pair of scoring passes. "(But) we cant get cocky, and we cant get big-headed."

Brookins and the Currans certainly looked like all-stars in the first two dozen minutes.

If it wasnt the Currans playing a glorified game of backyard catch on 27-yard scoring strikes, it was Brookins gashing his opponents for 10, 20, then 40-plus yard jaunts as Cedar Falls took a 28-0 lead into the halftime break.

A 2-yard scoring hookup from Ben Curran to Nate with 4:06 left in the first quarter started the Tigers 48-minute feast on Washington (3-2).

Later, with 2:45 to go in the third, the No. 3-ranked Tigers (5-0) officially strangled the life out of their opponents. Brookins took a handoff over right tackle, received a superb seal block from his tight end and was off to the races for TD No. 3 on the night - a 60-yard sprint down the right sideline to make it 35-0.

"I changed my running style from last week," explained Brookins, who ended with 178 yards rushing and three TDs. "I tried to juke my way through the defense (before). And I was just like, ‘Im just going to hit the hole and see what happens. So I just used my blocks and ran head-first into the defense."

Cedar Falls coach Pat Mitchell entered the night wary of the Warriors and their dynamic duo of tailback Paki OMeara and quarterback Will Suess. But his troops essentially told their venerable 39th-year co-head coach to fear not, keeping Suess to short routes. They also limited OMeara - who entered averaging 11.4 yards per rush - to just 50 yards on the ground before he left due to a shoulder injury. OMeara did not play in the second half, and Warrior coaches said they werent sure of the severity of his injury.

"We knew offensively they were stacked," said Nate Curran, who also registered a second-half interception along with his offensive outburst. "We respected them. Its great to come out on your homecoming and beat them 35-nothing."

"To be able to put a shutout on them is a pretty good accomplishment for our defense," said Cedar Falls co-head coach Brad Remmert.

If there were any blemishes on the night for the hosts, they came in the form of penalties (the squads combined for 18 on the night), and the Tigers suffered a few injuries of their own. Mitchell said afterward no less than four Tigers got dinged, with the most worrisome injury being linebacker-tight end Mike Vandeventers left knee. Vandeventer fell to the turf twice in the first half for long injury timeouts, the last of which came late in the second period.

That tweaked left knee injury ended the 6-foot-4, 210-pounders night prematurely. Just how long will it keep him down? That remains to be seen. Mitchell said Vandeventer will undergo an MRI Monday.

But, the veteran coach explained, injuries are a sad inevitability in football.

"Were going to have to have some depth come in and spend the week really working on those back-up guys and get them ready to go," Mitchell said.

"Its that time (of the season) anyway. Were down to eight heavy practices for the rest of the season, and weve got to get those guys ready to go."

Contact Kelly Beaton at (319) 291-1456 or kelly.beaton@wcfcourier.com

C.R. Washington 0 0 0 0 0

Cedar Falls 7 21 7 0 35

CF Nate Curran 2 pass from Ben Curran (Spencer Steffy kick)

CF Taylor Brookins 48 run (Steffy kick)

CF Brookins 2 run (Steffy kick)

CF Nate Curran 27 pass from Ben Curran (Steffy kick)

CF Brookins 60 run (Steffy kick)

TEAM STATISTICS

CRW CF

First downs 11 15

Rushes-yards 27-82 30-253

Passing yards 78 196

Passes 9-12-1 9-13-0

Return yards 60 42

Penalties-yards 8-56 10-81

Punts-avg. 4-39.3 1-53

Fumbles-lost 2-0 0-0

INDIVIDUAL STATS

Rushing

WASHINGTON Will Suess 5- (-7), Paki OMeara 11-50, Justin Reed 3-18, Scott Lown 2- (-9), Jared Vogt 5-22, Eric Harrison 1-8.

CEDAR FALLS Taylor Brookins 17-178, Stu Craig 8-47, Josh Schindel 1-2, Jason Goulden 4-26.

Passing

WASHINGTON Will Suess 9-11-1, 78 yards; Paki OMeara 0-1-0.

CEDAR FALLS Ben Curran 8-12-0, 175 yards, 2 touchdowns; Mike DiMarco 1-1-0, 21 yards.

Receiving

WASHINGTON John Hart 2-21, Nick Lenzen 5-46, Scott Lown 1-9, Dylan Hines 1-0.

CEDAR FALLS Nate Curran 3-63, Schuylar Oordt 1-12, Stu Craig 2-49, Brandon Nelson 1-37, D.J. Deery 1014, Josh Schindel 1-21.

C.F. SOPHS 28, C.R. WASH. SOPHS 7