More carries and yards for Dralle, more wins for Kennedy

MARION - You get exhausted watching Tyler Dralle run the football play after play after play, so imagine what he must feel like after a game.

The Cedar Rapids Kennedy back will not ever admit fatigue, just the way he is. Keep feeding him the ball and watch him go.

He was fed another 34 times Friday night, amassing 228 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the Class 4A Cougars' 31-6 win over Linn-Mar at Linn-Mar Stadium. Kennedy (6-0) pulled away from a 14-6 game at the break, scoring 17 unanswered points in the second half.

'I love getting the ball,” Dralle said. 'If it takes 35 or 40 for us to win the game, I'm ready for it.”

Dralle came into this one leading 4A in carries by a wide margin, and that'll continue for at least another week. His final touch of the night, for nine yards, unofficially put him over the 1,000-yard mark this season.

He had 20 carries in the second half, as the Cougars decided to pound the ball against Linn-Mar (2-4). Kennedy ran 21 offensive plays in the third quarter, 15 of them Dralle runs.

'I talk to him constantly on the sideline,” Kennedy Coach Brian White said, when asked if he ever worries about Dralle's workload. 'I ask him how he's doing, and he says ‘Fine, I want the ball.' In the fourth quarter, I looked over at him and said ‘We've got a lead now, we're going to lean on you if you're up to it.' He just says ‘I'm always up to it.'”

White said the coaches are cautious with him during the week in practice because he's a two-year starter who doesn't need as many reps as others. Dralle said his weekend recuperative routine includes an ice bath and a lot of rest.

'On Saturday mornings, I wake up and kind of roll off the side of my bed,” he said. 'I roll off of it because I'm really sore. But it feels great because I've got the best offensive line in the state. They do a great job blocking.”

Kennedy finished with 454 yards, 310 on the ground. Shaun Beyer added two TDs for the Cougars, one on a reception and another on a 55-yard run.

Alexander Stone added a 37-yard field goal. Linn-Mar's points came on field goals of 33 and 47 yards by Alexy Boehm.

'Tonight was our first championship,” said White. 'We're Metro champs, that's the way we're looking at it. We said we want to play for three championships this year: Metro champs, district champs and state champs. We've got one down and two to go.”

The initial possession of the game went to Kennedy, and the Cougars used a big play to get a very early touchdown. On 3rd-and-8 at its own 16, quarterback Nick Duehr hit Chase Baker with a quick hitch pass, with Baker breaking a pair of tackles en route to a 59-yard gain down the sideline.

Three plays later, Duehr lofted a jump-ball pass into the right corner of the end zone that 6-foot-5 power forward/tight end Beyer went up and caught over two defenders for a 14-yard touchdown. The extra point made it 7-0 Kennedy 2:22 in.

Linn-Mar countered with a drive of its own on its first possession of the night. Quarterback Reese Phillips rolled and hit Kirby Kerr for 30 yards to get deep into Kennedy territory.

The Cougars held, with Boehm coming on to kick a 33-yard field goal that made it a 7-3 game.

Dralle's 63-yard run off a pitch left and cutback to the right side of the field set up his own 4-yard TD rush as Kennedy extended its lead to 14-3. Once again, Linn-Mar penetrated Cougars territory but stalled, with Boehm splitting the uprights on an impressive 47-yard field goal in the final minute of the first quarter.

Linn-Mar got to the Kennedy 10 midway through the second quarter, but Phillips was intercepted at the 2 by defensive back Austin Coates. Kennedy got as far as the Lions 24 on the ensuing possession, but Duehr was sacked on back-to-back plays to end that drive.

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