Cedar Rapids Kennedy shows off passing attack in 28-7 win over Bettendorf

CEDAR RAPIDS — Look who has a passing game this season.

That’d be Cedar Rapids Kennedy, which showed it off Friday night in a 28-7 win over Bettendorf at Kingston Stadium.

Quarterback Carson Blietz threw for 204 yards and three touchdowns, all to Jaron Senters, as the Class 5A seventh-ranked Cougars won their second game in as many weeks.

“We’re definitely capable that way,” Blietz said. “We’ve got some great weapons on the outside that can go get the ball when they need to. We have a strong running game, too, with Jazan Williams. He can make things happen, we can make things happen on the outside. Lots of great weapons.”

Kennedy threw for just 554 yards in eight games last season. Zero disrespect intended, but Max White, last year’s Cougars quarterback, was a running back playing the QB position.

What he did best, and he did it incredibly well, was run. He’s a freshman tailback now at the University of Iowa.

Blietz transferred across town from Cedar Rapids Jefferson and has sort of helped transfer Kennedy offensively. So has Senters, who transferred in from Linn-Mar.

He caught TD passes of 45, 25 and 12 yards, in that order, and added a big interception near the Kennedy goal line in the first half.

“We went into this season saying we are going to be more diverse, we’re going to throw the ball,” said Kennedy Coach Brian White. “Carson is very good at throwing the ball. We’ve always said that we are going to play the style of football that we are best at. Right now, we don’t have a running quarterback, we have a throwing quarterback. So we’re going to throw it.”

“It helped a lot being around in the summer,” Blietz said. “The whole team was there all summer long. We were putting in work, 6:30 in the mornings and then 7-on-7 stuff on the weekends. All that work has just helped us get in sync together, get in rhythm, which has carried over into the season.”

Kennedy stretched a 7-0 halftime lead, getting a 2-yard Williams touchdown run midway through the third quarter for a 14-0 lead. Bettendorf (0-2) scored its first TD of the young season on the ensuing possession, a 3-yard Terry Dunn III run.

But Senters hauled in his 25-yarder on fourth-and-goal to make it a two-score spread again. He had five receptions in the game for 135 yards.

“We’ve had two great wins, and I think the sky is the limit. Our potential is crazy,” Senters said. “We progressed from Week 1 to Week 2, just in overall efficiency, and I think we played a lot smarter than we did last week. I think Week 1, a lot of teams are kind of all over the place. This week, we were a lot more focused.”

Kennedy beat Iowa City West in last week’s opener and gets Class 4A fourth-ranked Cedar Rapids Washington next week at Kingston.

C.R. KENNEDY 28, BETTENDORF 7

At Kingston Stadium

Bettendorf 0 0 7 0 - 7

C.R. Kennedy 0 7 0 14 - 28

CRK-Jeron Senters 45 pass from Carson Blietz (Luke Bradley kick)

CRK-Jazan Williams 2 run (Bradley kick)

Bett-Terry Dunn III 3 run (Josh Pelzer kick)

CRK-Senters 25 pass from Blietz (Bradley kick)

CRK-Senters 12 pass from Blietz (Bradley kick)

TEAM STATISTICS

First Downs: Bettendorf 11, C.R. Kennedy 10

Rushes-Yards: Bettendorf 35-88, C.R. Kennedy 32-93

Passing Yards: Bettendorf 100, C.R. Kennedy 204

Att.-Comp.-Int.: Bettendorf 5-20-2, C.R. Kennedy 9-18-0.

Fumbles: Bettendorf 2-0, C.R. Kennedy 0-0.

Penalties: Bettendorf 6-45, C.R. Kennedy 6-49.

Punts-Avg.: Bettendorf 6-31.0, C.R. Kennedy 5-36.2

INDIVDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing - Bettendorf: Terry Dunn III 24-113, Cameron Figgs 2-0, Christian Kautz 7-(minus) 1, Elijah Mendoza 1-(minus) 13, Team 1-(minus 11). C.R. Kennedy: Jazan Williams 25-86, Jeron Senters 1-6, Rashon Jennings 1-1, Carson Blietz 4-0, Brendan Rader 1-0.

Passing - Bettendorf: Christian Kautz 7-19-2-100, David Canfield 0-1-0-0. C.R. Kennedy: Carson Blietz 9-18-1-204.

Receiving - Bettendorf: Tynan Numkena 5-57, David Canfield 1-40, Terry Dunn III 2-3. C.R. Kennedy: Jeron Senters 5-135, Isaiah Morgan 1-38, Hayden Klett 3-31.

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