Cedar Rapids Kennedy ends season with 4 one-score loss

CEDAR RAPIDS — In a season of missed opportunities, the Cedar Rapids Kennedy football team's season ended in yet another heartbreak.

With nothing to play for other than pride, the Cougars battled playoff-bound Dallas Center-Grimes to the end on Friday night at Kingston Stadium.

The visiting Mustangs pushed across the go-ahead touchdown with 3:35 remaining. Kennedy mounted one final push, driving the ball to DC-G 4 before turning it over on downs in the final minute.

"It's our fourth one-score loss of the year," lamented Kennedy Coach Brian White following the 14-7 loss. "If you win those games, all the sudden you are 7-2 and getting ready for the playoffs.

"This wasn't a thing like we were outmanned. It just comes down to execution at times and we didn't execute well enough all season when it counted. That was the theme of this year. We just kept shooting ourselves in the foot."

The team leaving Kingston on Friday night with a 7-2 record was Dallas Center-Grimes. The Mustangs will learn their Class 5A playoff opponent on Saturday while the Cougars are done at 3-6.

"We had one drive tonight, we got a good 15-yard run, but get called for holding," White said. "Then we get an intentional grounding penalty and we are looking at third and 34. There isn't anything in the playbook for 3rd and 34.“

Both teams were able to push across scores in the second quarter. Kennedy got its only score of the game on a 22-yard pass from William Woodring to Dawson Dougherty early in the second quarter. The Mustangs evened it up on a 10-yard burst up the middle from Osborn Grimm just before halftime.

Kennedy had its chances in the second half, but could never get a sustained drive going until the one to finish the game. The Mustangs had a chance to take the lead in the third quarter only to see a field-goal attempt sail wide.

They finally broke through when Grimm, who finished with 175 yards on 26 carries, broke free around end and went in from 38 yards out with 3:35 remaining.

On its next drive Woodring and Deacon Kucera hooked up on a 45-yard pass play to take the ball inside the Mustangs 10. Kennedy got five shots, receiving an extra play thanks to a pass interference call, to get the tying score. Woodring was swarmed by a blitzing Mustang defense on Kennedy's final play from the 4-yard-line.

"The good news is that our kids never quit," White said. "The fight was there all season. The young kids learned something valuable from the older kids and that is how to fight and to never give up and never give in.

"You feel bad for the seniors. I just told them in the locker room that there wasn't one day you didn't give us maximum effort. So you really feel bad for kids like that, who give everything they have and just could not get over the hump."