Too many mistakes for Kennedy in 4A title game loss to Dowling

CEDAR FALLS — Two plays. Two stinkin' back-to-back plays late in the second quarter.

Ah, who's kidding who? It was more than touchdowns allowed via trickeration and defense that befelled Cedar Rapids Kennedy in Monday night's Class 4A state championship football game.

West Des Moines Dowling is really, really good. You don't three-peat without having serious talent, size and depth.

But the Maroons began pulling away for what would become a 41-10 win thanks to those two darned aforementioned plays: a 28-yard scoring pass on a fake field goal and another on a fumble return.

'Football is a game of momentum, and that was a huge momentum swing,' said Kennedy's Shaun Beyer. 'That was a huge momentum swing for them. That's when the game turned tides a little bit.'

'I never felt like we were losing the game,' said Kennedy's Dalles Jacobus said. 'There was never a point where I felt like 'We're getting our butts kicked.' That never happened. There was never a point where we turned on each other. We were in that game. We just made too many mistakes.'

Kennedy (13-1) seemed to have the heavily favored Maroons (13-0) on their heels after Beyer outjumped a Dowling defensive back in the right corner of the end zone for a 20-yard TD off a fade pass from Nick Duehr. That made it a 13-7 game with a little less than five minutes to go in the first half.

The Cougars stopped a Maroons drive with under two minutes left, with Dowling initially lining up for a long field-goal try on 4th and 5. But it quickly shifted into a unique shotgun formation, with the kicker way out to the right, four players lined way out to the left and four guys lined up in the middle.

Stevie Sarcone was the guy lined up at the right side of the middle quartet, an eligible receiver (at least according to the officials) who was wide open and hauled in quarterback Kurt Walding's pass. On Kennedy's very next offensive play, Duehr and running back Tyler Dralle goofed up a handoff exchange, with Dowling defensive lineman Atlias Bell scooping up the fumble and rolling 32 yards for a score.

All the good things Kennedy had done went poof, just like that.

'I think the ball was tipped on that play,' said Dralle, who finished with 127 yards rushing on 30 carries. 'I actually had it, it was right here (in his chest). It was a little wobbly, though. I don't know. It just kind of fell.'

Running back Jacob Zachary's 19-yard TD run gave Dowling a 7-0 lead, with Ryan Mells scoring on a 40-yard fumble return on Kennedy's next possession. You simply can't hand a talented team two touchdowns.

'The turnovers killed us,' Dralle said.

Dowling threw all of one pass in the second half, content to ride its huge line and running backs Jacob Zachary and Cole Deskin. Each had TDs, with the Maroons finishing with 271 yards rushing, more than Kennedy had total (210).

So another Metro school sees its season ended in the finals by a Central Iowa juggernaut. It was Cedar Rapids Xavier in 2012 and 2013, and Cedar Rapids Washington last season.

With a ton of juniors seeing significant playing time, Dowling will be a prohibitive favorite to win four in a row in 2016. For Kennedy, it's not time to look ahead, but reflect on the best season in school history.

The Cougars went from 3-8 to 13-1, and that's not bad. Not bad at all.

'They are a fantastic team, but as I told our kids in the locker room, we're a good team, too,' said Kennedy Coach Brian White. 'You can't make mistakes like we did. But I want everyone to know how proud I am of this group. They played the game with character, they played the game with dignity, they played the game the right way. They were a fantastic group to coach.'

'I tell you one thing, I'm not hurting because we lost,' Jacobus said. 'These guys are my brothers, and it's over. At the same time, it's not. I'm still always going to keep in touch with them all.'

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