Late Show: Kennedy goes to 3-1

 CEDAR RAPIDS -- They hunkered down, riding the storm out.Then they beared down, pushing the Rams outThe Kennedy Cougars overcame a plethora of penalties and stymied Dubuque Senior at most every turn, picking up a 19-9 rain-delayed homecoming victory Thursday night at soggy Kingston Stadium.A week after surrendering five turnovers in a loss to Iowa City West, the Cougars didn't cough it up once -- despite sketchy conditions -- and improved to 3-1 overall, 1-1 in the MVC Mississippi Division."I took the checkdown, that was it," said Kennedy quarterback Derek Jacobus, who completed 11 of 12 passes for 113 yards. "We had five turnovers last week, and that couldn't happen again."Both teams have vastly changed identities from 2012. Kennedy started 0-5 last year before pulling a U-turn. This year, the Cougars are quick out of the gate.Meanwhile, Senior (1-3, 0-1) has gone from the MVC's biggest surprise to most puzzling disappointment.The Rams managed just 61 rushing yards on 36 attempts."Obviously we're trying to find a little bit of an identity on offense," said Senior Coach Dale Ploessl. "Our defense didn't play too bad. We're playing well on defense, but we've obviously got a lot of work to do on offense in finding some way to maintain drives and then finish drives.”The game was delayed because of a severe thunderstorm that hit much of Eastern Iowa. The sophomore contest was halted around 6:15 p.m., then cut short for time restraints.It was 8:40 by the time the varsity game kicked off."We just hung out in (the locker room)," said Kennedy's A.J. Carter, who made the play of the game on a daring special-teams decision. "We did a little team bonding."There was serious doubt the game would be played as lightning lingered. But once it started, there wasn't much debate which team was superior.  The Rams were held to minus-5 yards on the ground in the first half, and Kennedy went into the locker room with a 12-2 lead.Kennedy journeyed 60 yards in an eight-play march on its second drive.Miles Moa opened it with a 21-yard run, then Logan Wedo capped it with a 5-yard touchdown scamper with 7 seconds left in the first quarter. The PAT attempt was blocked, leaving it at 6-0.Then came Carter's game-breaker.A 42-yard field goal attempt late in the second quarter by Senior went awry, and Jack Kloft shanked the kick short of the goal line and to the right.Carter hesitated, then picked it up around the 5-yard line. He took off, shed a tackle and was off to the races before being drug down at the Senior 21."I didn't actually know it was a live ball," Carter said. "The referee was going to blow it dead at first. I don't think he knew I could run it all either. One of me teammates said, 'Pick it up.' So I did and just ran with it."It was a do-or-die play."We about killed him, to be honest with you," Kennedy Coach Tim Lewis said. "If he fumbles it, it's (Senior's) ball. It's one of those things where it worked out, so now we're all happy for him."Kennedy took advantage of the short field, scoring five plays later on Jacobus' 3-yard run. He raced for the right pylon and extended the ball into the end zone to make it 12-0 with 2:30 left in the half.Senior got two points back shortly thereafter. Jacobus couldn't leap high enough to retrieve a high snap. He chased down the ball in the end zone and was tackled for a safety.Kennedy was victimized by penalties all night (15 flags for 130 yards), but overcame three of them on its first drive of the second half.The Cougars journeyed 70 yards in a 5 1/2-minute march, capped by Jacobus' 14-yard pass to Drew Heitland. That made it 19-2, and the Cougars were safe.Famiek Cook made a clutch tackle on fourth down at the Kennedy 1 on the subsequent drive.Senior finally found the end zone with 7:25 left, on Austin Clemens' 5-yard pass to Sam Jaeger.The Cougars will meet Class 4A No. 1 Cedar Rapids Xavier at Kingston next week; Senior hosts No. 3 Iowa City West. 

CR Kennedy 19, Dbq. Senior 9

AT KINGSTON STADIUM

TEAM STATISTICS

Dbq. Senior

CR Kennedy

First downs

11

11

Rushes-yards

36 - 61

40 - 89

Passing yards

120

113

Comp-Att-Int

12 - 24 - 0

11 - 12 - 0

Total yards

181

202

Fumbles-lost

1 - 0

1 - 0

Punts-average

5 - 34.6

5 - 46.2

Penalties-yards

1 - 9

15 - 130

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing:  Dbq. Senior – Lee Bonifas 11-82 , Mike Williams 8-19 , Parker Hammel 8-3 , Cole Wilbrecht 1-2  CR Kennedy – Miles Moa 17-60 , Terrence Hall 6-29 , Logan Wedo 7-27 , Jay Blank 1-1

Passing:  Dbq. Senior – Austin Clemens 11-19-0-100 , Bonifas 1-2-0-20  CR Kennedy – Derek Jacobus 11-12-0-113

Receiving:  Dbq. Senior – Nick Hoftender 4-32 , Sam Jaeger 3-60 , Tyler George 2-35 , Colton Iwasaki 1-2  CR Kennedy – Drew Heitland 4-57 , Blank 3-22 , Hall 2-20 , Famiek Cook 1-17

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Dbq. Senior

2

7

–

9

CR Kennedy

6

6

7

–

19

SCORING SUMMARY

CRK - Logan Wedo 5 run (kick blocked)

CRK - Derek Jacobus 3 run (pass failed)

DS - Safety, Jacobus tackled in end zone

CRK - Drew Heitland 14 pass from Jacobus (Mark Schulz kick)

DS - Sam Jaeger 5 pass from Austin Clemens (Jack Kloft kick)