Cedar Rapids Kennedy plays with mighty West Des Moines Dowling but falls, 38-21

CEDAR RAPIDS — West Des Moines Dowling is the gold standard, which makes you wonder where Cedar Rapids Kennedy is right now.

Would you say bronzish territory? Somewhere in the silver category?

The Cougars played with the state’s historically best big-school prep football program Saturday night at Kingston Stadium. No question about that.

The Class 5A second-ranked Maroons got a couple of touchdown runs from junior running back Ra’Shawd Davis in the fourth quarter and pulled away for a 38-21 win. Kennedy was ranked No. 6 in The Gazette’s preseason poll.

“Physically I didn’t see any difference. I really didn’t,” said Kennedy Coach Brian White. “From where I stand, they’re a very good football team. I think we’re a good football team. I think we can do some things to be a better football team.”

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White lamented his team’s inability to tackle cleanly on defense, its multiple false start penalties on offense and giving up a kickoff return touchdown on special teams. That’s all three phases with miscues.

It was Davis who had that kickoff return, a 90-yarder in the second quarter that immediately countered a Kennedy touchdown and gave Dowling a 17-7 lead. Davis had all five Maroons TDs: the return and four runs.

He’s good, and he’s got an offensive line to run behind that includes 300-pound Kansas State commit Kyle Rakers.

“There were some typical first-game things, but I think we beat a good football team tonight,” said Dowling Coach Tom Wilson. “Kennedy is big, physical, they’ve got weapons on offense, their quarterback does a really good job. So I thought it was a really good challenge for us. They’re going to win quite a few ballgames, I think. For us to come over here and get a win, I’m just proud of our kids.”

Kennedy got 269 yards passing and three touchdowns from quarterback Vinny Gianforte. It was a heroic effort, considering the junior was under serious pressure a lot of the game, using his scrambling ability to elude potential sacks and make improvised throws.

He completed 22 of 39 passes, eight of them to Cyrus Courtney. The senior wideout was equally special, continually coming down with 50-50 balls, either out-leaping or out-fighting Dowling defensive backs, or drawing pass interference penalties.

Courtney’s reception total went for 136 yards and a touchdown.

“Tough first game,” he said. “We have a lot to improve on, and I think that showed right there in that game.”

“I will just say that we were playing a phenomenal football team, a well-coached football team, a disciplined football team,” White said. “So the fact that those two could make adjustments on the run against a team that is so disciplined and so good, it should tell you how they are. They’re good football players that rose to the occasion against an unbelievable football team.”

Gianforte was asked what he thought his team learned after this one.

“That we are a very good football team. We can hang with the best teams in the state,” he said. “We can move the ball when we need to. Just a lot of self-inflicted wounds that went on, and we’ve got to get those corrected. The thing is there are a lot of correctable mistakes, and that’s the biggest thing right now. Get those corrected.”

Kennedy has a short week of preparation, as it gets ready for a Pleasant Valley team that went undefeated last regular season. PV lost its opener to rival Bettendorf.

“We have very high expectations,” Gianforte said. “We believe that arguably this is one of the best football teams Kennedy’s ever had. With the players that we have, the personnel, the coaching we have, we have high expectations for the season.”

“Our kids believed going into this that they were going to win the football game,” White said. “They are incredibly disappointed right now, because they believed they were going to win. And I think that they have the ability to win these games. We can play and beat west-side teams with this group.”

Courtney agrees with his coach.

“For sure,” he said. “Everybody on our team thinks that, too.”

West Des Moines Dowling 38, Cedar Rapids Kennedy 21

(At Kingston Stadium)

West Des Moines Dowling 7 17 0 14-38

Cedar Rapids Kennedy 0 14 7 0-21

Team Statistics

First Downs - Dowling 19, Kennedy 19. Rushes-Yards - Dowling 37-262, Kennedy 24-96. Passing Yards (Completions-Attempts-Interceptions) - Dowling 129 (11-13-0), Kennedy 269 (22-39-0). Total Yards - Dowling 391, Kennedy 365. Punts-Average - Dowling 1-38.0, Kennedy 4-33.8. Penalties-Yards - Dowling 5-48, Kennedy 5-35. Fumbles-Lost - Dowling 0-0, Kennedy 0-0.

Individual Statistics

Rushing - Dowling: Ra’Shawd Davis 23-158, Dante Cataldo 8-47, Steve Hauschilt 5-34, Zach Smid 1-23. Kennedy: Trevor Scott 11-36, Nick Woods 1-18, Jacob Doyle 5-17, Vinny Gianforte 4-13, Brayden Alber 1-8, Calvin White 2-4.

Passing - Dowling: Dante Cataldo 11-13-0-129. Kennedy: Vinny Gianforte 22-39-0-269.

Receiving - Dowling: Trey Wilson 3-42, Curtis Horras 3-42, Hank Brown 2-15, Jake Skau 1-14, Will Leifker 1-8, Ra’Shawd Davis 1-8. Kennedy: Cyrus Courtney 8-136, Ben Sopousek 5-63, Nick Woods 3-31, Jacob Doyle 1-12, Christian Gasper 2-9, Brayden Alber 1-7, Calvin White 1-7, Anthony Huber 1-4.

Comments: (319)-398-8258, jeff.johnson@thegazette.com