Cedar Rapids Kennedy breaks through in a big way, 34-0 over No. 4 Linn-Mar

MARION — There was certainly a sense of urgency, but there was no panic among the players and coaches at Cedar Rapids Kennedy.

Coming into Friday night’s game against Class 5A No. 4 Linn-Mar, the Cougars knew what type of team they had.

“We had two tough games before this one,” said Kennedy senior wide receiver Cyrus Courtney about his team’s losses to No. 2 West Des Moines Dowling and Pleasant Valley to open the season. “We had already had some dogfights so we were ready for this.”

The Cougars were more than ready. Coach Brian White’s team piled up 412 yards of total offense and held the Lions to 233 yards en route to a convincing 34-0 victory before a near-capacity crowd at Linn-Mar Stadium.

“We took this week personal,” said Courtney, who had seven catches for 139 yards and a touchdown. “The week of practice we had was probably the hardest one I can ever remember and it paid off. We just beat the No. 4 team 34-0 on their field.”

White echoed the statements of his standout receiver.

“I told our kids all week that we have been battle tested,” White said. “You play Dowling, you play a PV team that was undefeated last year, you get tested. We had a tough week of practice, but it was a good week where we got down, got dirty and practiced hard. They gave us everything we asked of them to get into the win column.”

Linn-Mar was riding high coming into its home opener, coming off big road wins over Dubuque Senior and Cedar Rapids Washington to open the season. On this night, the Lions were able to get into the red zone three times, but were never able to score.

“This was a phenomenal Linn-Mar team we beat tonight,” White said. “They are banged up, but we came out and executed and did what we needed to do.”

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Photos: Cedar Rapids Kennedy at Linn-Mar

Kennedy took the opening kick and drove 65 yards with quarterback Vincenzo Gianforte capping the drive with a 2-yard scoring run. Linn-Mar was able to block the PAT, but the Lions, who were without Iowa State commit Keaton Roskup (torn ACL) and starting quarterback Austin Waller (shoulder injury) were hit with another devastating injury on the play. Senior linebacker Owen Lamb suffered an arm injury that required the training staff to place into an air cast before he came off the field.

Then on its first offensive series, standout junior running back Dylan Muszynski injured an ankle. He played off and on for the rest of the first half, but was done for good early in the third quarter.

Lions Coach Tim Lovell said his team is down six starters due to injury. However, he took nothing away from Kennedy’s strong performance.

“We talked all week about the next man in,” Lovell said. “Sure we had a couple of injuries not go our way and a couple of plays not go our way but we’re not going to make any excuses. Kennedy was a great football team tonight and they beat us on our home field.”

Even with the injuries, the Lions held tough most of the first half until Kennedy scored with 47 seconds left in the half on an 8-yard TD pass from Gianforte to Calvin White.

“That score allowed us to actually let our defense go a little bit,” Coach White said. “We hadn’t been ahead all year except for in overtime against PV. I was really happy with the way they played tonight.”

Gianforte, who was 18-of-24 for 271 yards and three TDs, connected on two more in the second half, the final one a beautiful 31-yard strike to Courtney midway through the fourth quarter.

“We’ve always been known as a ground-and-pound team,” said Coach White. “Now we have a guy who can throw the ball and some good receivers so we can mix things up and do what we have to do to win.”

The Lions are home again next week, hosting No. 5 Bettendorf while the Cougars will play crosstown rival Cedar Rapids Washington at Kingston Stadium.

Cedar Rapids Kennedy 34, Linn-Mar 0

At Linn-Mar Stadium

CRK LM

First downs 20 16

Rushes-yards 29-141 42-135

Passing yards 271 98

Comp-Att-Int 18-24-0 11-18-1

Punts-Avg. 2-28.5 2-28.0

Fumbles-lost 1-1 3-1

Penalties-Yards 9-65 3-25

CR Kennedy 6 7 7 14 — 34

Linn-Mar 0 0 0 0 — 0

CRK — Vincenzo Gianforte 2 run (kick blocked)

CRK — Calvin White 8 pass from Gianforte (Dylan Augustine kick)

CRK — Jackson Popelka 21 pass from Gianforte (Augustine kick)

CRK — White 15 run (Augustine kick)

CRK — Cyrus Courtney 31 pass from Gianforte (Augustine kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING - CR Kennedy: Trevor Scott 11-75, Jacob Doyle 12-41, Vincenzo Gianforte 2-5, Calvin White 3-16, Brayden Alber 1-4. Linn-Mar: Dylan Muszynski 6-24, Tyree Alons 14-58, Stone Morgan 9-(minus 1), Alex Thurm 5-14, Cam Henderson 8-40.

PASSING - CR Kennedy: Vincenzo Gianforte 18-24-0-271. Linn-Mar: Stone Morgan 11-18-1-98.

RECEIVING - CR Kennedy: Cyrus Courtney 7-139, Calvin White 2-17, Pierce McCrary 4-48, Jacob Doyle 1-13, Jackson Popelka 1-21, Braden Alber 3-44. Linn-Mar: Dylan Muszynski 1-(minus 4), Landon Sorg 6-66 Daniel Peplinski 2-30, Aiden Klaren 1-8, Stone Morgan 1-(minus-2).