The Cedar Rapids Kennedy brand of football returns as Cougars win second straight game

CEDAR RAPIDS — Cedar Rapids Kennedy was on a mission to reclaim its brand of football.

Well, mission accomplished.

The Cougars scored on their first six possessions of the game, forced five total turnovers and cruised to a 45-7 victory over Cedar Rapids Washington on Friday night at Kingston Stadium. Class 5A No. 9 Kennedy won its second straight game to improve to 2-2 and hasn’t allowed an offensive touchdown in eight quarters.

“We had to get better defensively,” Kennedy Coach Brian White said. “What it boiled down to was fundamentals, tackling. Do your assignment, do what you’re asked on the field and rely on your teammates to do their job. I think we got better last week against Linn-Mar and we were really good at that tonight.”

White said coaches emphasized focusing getting better and taking care of their own business, regardless of opponent. After all, the Cougars amassed more than 500 yards of offense and set five school records but still loss to Pleasant Valley.

The Cougars knew some things had to change after allowing an average of 37 points per game in through the first two weeks.

“We’ve just been getting after every day at practice,” Kennedy captain and linebacker B.J. henry said. “All the guys have been going hard. Captains have been making sure everyone’s getting their jobs done.

“It correlates to the game. We have fun and making sure everybody’s doing what they’re supposed to do.”

The Cougars overpowered Washington, recovering three fumbles and picking off a pair of passes while holding the Warriors to just 58 total yards. They also tallied five sacks.

“We love to send the dogs in,” Henry said. “For the most part, everybody is doing their jobs. They are just playing fast.

“Once we get momentum going and everybody is on the same page it’s hard to stop it.”

Kennedy’s offense did capitalize when the defense got the ball. The Cougars scored 24 points off turnovers and short fields.

After driving 78 yards on 11 plays that was capped by a 3-yard Trevor Scott touchdown run, Grant Mather pounced on a fumble, giving the Cougars the ball at the Warrior 30 and leading to a Dylan Augustine 42-yard field goal. A Sam Adams interception and another Warrior fumble resulted in a 30-yard TD pass from Vincenzo Gianforte to Cyrus Courtney and a Calvin White 2-yard TD run for a 24-0 lead with 8:23 left in the second quarter.

The Cougars added scoring runs of 22 and 9 yards by Jacob Doyle and Scott, respectively, to enact a running clock before closing the first half with a 38-0 lead.

“They were pretty dialed in and they wanted to get (guys) in,” White said about substitutions before the break. “We have a big sideline. We have a lot of hungry faces and they (starters) wanted to get those guys some playing time.”

Kennedy amassed 365 yards of total offense with 209 on the ground. Scott led the Cougars with 86 yards on 11 carries and Doyle added 68 on eight carries. Gianforte completed 9 of 14 passes for 156 yards. Three completions and 65 yards were to Courtney. White had 25 yards receiving, hauling in a 3-yard Gianforte pass for a score in the third.

Washington’s lone score came in the third. Linebacker Caiden Buonadonna snatched a tipped pass from backup Jacob Ervin and returned it 22 yards for a score to make it 38-7 in the third.

Kennedy travels to Iowa City High next week, while Washington (0-4) plays Cedar Rapids Jefferson (4-0).

“We had a good game but we’re going to flush it and come to work on Monday,” Henry said. “Everybody is going to play fast and go hard.”

C.R. KENNEDY 45

C.R. WASHINGTON 7

AT KINGSTON STADIUM

CRW CRK

First Downs 4 15

Rushes-yards 21-29 36-209

Passing yards 29 156

Comp-att-int 3-16-2 9-17-1

Total yards 58 365

Fumbles-lost 5-3 0-0

Punts-avg. 4-32.0 3-29.7

Penalties-yards 3-15 3-30

C.R. Washington 0 0 7 0 -- 7

C.R. Kennedy 10 28 7 0 -- 0

CRK – Trevor Scott 3 run (Dylan Augustine kick)

CRK – FG Augustine 42

CRK – Cyrus Courtney 30 pass from Vincenzo Gianforte (Augustine kick)

CRK – Calvin White 2 run (Augustine kick)

CRK – Jacob Doyle 22 run (Andrew Waterhouse kick)

CRK – Scott 9 run (Waterhouse kick)

CRW – Caiden Buonadonna 22 interception return (Logan Barton kick)

CRK – White 3 pass from Gianforte (Waterhouse kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – C.R. Washington: David Fason 1-29, Mason Bahls 6-9, Nicholas Riley 4-6, Brock Davis 1-4, J’Quari Willis 1-(-3), Team 1-(-5), Grady McGuire 7-(-11). C.R. Kennedy: Scott 11-86, Doyle 8-68, Anthony Franklin 8-38, White 4-17, Sam Adams 1-4, Gianforte 4-(-4).

PASSING – C.R. Washington: McGuire 3-16-2-29. C.R. Kennedy: Gianforte 9-14-0-156, Jacob Ervin 0-3-1-0.

RECEIVING – C.R. Washington: Landyn Mitvalsky 3-29. C.R. Kennedy: Courtney 3-65, White 3-25, Pierce McCrary 2-40, Jackson Popelka 1-26.

Comments: kj.pilcher@thegazette.com