Cougars ground and pound Prairie

CEDAR RAPIDS -- The identity of the ball carrier didn't matter. Run or pass, same success.

"Our coaches stress, just get off the ball," said Cedar Rapids Kennedy lineman Seth Gilmore. "It doesn't matter what we run. We want to get out and ground and pound."

"It's a lot of fun to go out there and smash heads."

Kennedy ran a lot, passed a little and did both with effectiveness in a 42-14 conquest of Cedar Rapids Prairie in a Class 4A first-round football playoff Wednesday night at Kingston Stadium.

Miles Moa ran for a pair of touchdowns, Derek Jacobus connected with Jacob Shannon for two more, and Logan Daughetee put a cherry on it with an 80-yard interception for a score.

The Cougars (7-3) advance to face No. 7 Davenport Assumption in the second round Monday at Brady Street Stadium. Assumption (9-1) handled Davenport Central, 26-0, Wednesday.

Wednesday's triumph Kennedy's second over the Hawks (5-5) this season. In Week 2, the Cougars had to come from behind. Wednesday, they got ahead and stayed ahead.

"It was so important to keep scoring," Jacobus said. "They knew what was coming, but this was one of the best team efforts we've had all season."

Moa rushed for 124 yards to lead a balanced attack. Jacobus ran for 79, and completed 4 of 5 passes with two touchdowns to Shannon.

Jacobus took some hard shots in a Week 8 loss to Dubuque Hempstead. He dealt with some kidney issues and was questionable for last week's game against Iowa City High.

"The doctors didn't tell me not to play, but I don't think they wanted me to," Jacobus said. "But I wanted to."

He led the Cougars to an impressive win over the Little Hawks five days ago, then they matched it Wednesday."

"(The City High win), that was hard to top," said Kennedy Coach Tim Lewis. "But this was another overall great team effort."

Kennedy laid down the gauntlet immediately, scoring on its first two possessions. The Cougars relied primarily -- almost exclusively -- on their power, Stacked-I attack.

Or, as Gilmore called it, ground-and-pound, smash-head stuff.

"Overall, they played a better game than we did," said Prairie Coach Mike Morrissey. "Up front, they really took care of things."

After holding the Hawks to one first down on the first possession of the game, Kennedy drove 80 yards in eight plays.

Jacobus converted on a third-down play early in the march with a 21-yard run, then Terrance Hall eventually capped it with a 1-yard touchdown run.

Prairie got even on the subsequent drive, converting a third-and-short and a third-and-long along the way. Mitch Christensen's 4-yard scoring burst made it 7-7.

Then came another long, methodical Kennedy march -- 72 yards in 12 plays, which lasted almost 7 minutes. A personal foul on the Hawks aided the cause, then Jacobus hit Shannon in the left flat, and Shannon ran through a tackle to reach the end zone.

Prairie reached the Kennedy 13 on its final drive of the half, but back-to-back incompletions foiled the threat.

Kennedy blew it open in the third quarter. The Cougars took the kickoff and drove it 80 yards in 11 plays, with Moa scoring from 3 yards out. On the first play of the subsequent Prairie drive, Hall recovered Christensen's fumble. The Cougars scored again -- Jacobus connected with Shannon from 24 yards out -- to make it 28-7, and that was basically the ball game.

The Hawks got within 28-14 late in the third quarter on Trey Beckman's 10-yard pass to Mitch Dellamuth, then got the ball back after forcing Kennedy to punt for the only time all night.

But the Cougars held on fourth-and-short at the Prairie 28, then took advantage of the short field, with Moa scoring again on a 2-yard blast.

The yardage was fairly even -- 334-326 in Kennedy's favor. But the Cougars took care of the football while Prairie turned it over three times, the last of which came on Daughetee's curtain closer, in which he picked off Trey Beckman at the Kennedy 20 and scampered the distance along the Prairie sideline.

Beckman passed for 146 yards.

CR Kennedy 42, CR Prairie 14

AT KINGSTON STADIUM

TEAM STATISTICS

CR Prairie

CR Kennedy

First downs

15

21

Rushes-yards

28 - 122

55 - 281

Passing yards

204

53

Comp-Att-Int

13 - 26 - 1

4 - 5 - 0

Total yards

326

334

Fumbles-lost

2 - 2

1 - 0

Punts-average

1 - 59.0

1 - 58.0

Penalties-yards

5 - 37

3 - 41

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing:  CR Prairie – Mitch Christensen 14-65 , Trey Beckman 4-17 , Jesse Vizzini 4-17 , Dylan Kuchemann 2-14 , Keagan Pinter 4-9  CR Kennedy – Miles Moa 25-124 , Derek Jacobus 11-79 , Terrance Hall 12-62 , Jay Blank 2-15 , Marcuso Foy 3-3

Passing:  CR Prairie – Beckman 10-21-1-146 , Kuchemann 2-3-0-32 , Vizzini 1-2-0-26  CR Kennedy – Jacobus 4-5-0-53

Receiving:  CR Prairie – Mitch Dellamuth 4-98 , Vizzini 4-33 , Connor Grade 2-35 , Tristan Beyer 2-32 , Christensen 1-9  CR Kennedy – Jacob Shannon 2-34 , Blank 1-14 , Moa 1-5

SCORE BY QUARTERS

CR Prairie

7

7

–

14

CR Kennedy

7

7

14

14

–

42

SCORING SUMMARY

CRK - Terrance Hall 1 run (Mark Schulz kick)

CRP - Mitch Christensen 4 run (Sam Drysdale kick)

CRK - Jacob Shannon 10 pass from Derek Jacobus (Schulz kick)

CRK - Miles Moa 3 run (Schulz kick)

CRK - Shannon 24 pass from Jacobus (Schulz kick)

CRP - Mitch Dellamuth 10 pass from Trey Beckman (Drysdale kick)

CRK - Moa 2 run (Schulz kick)

CRK - Logan Daughetee 80 interception return (Schulz kick)