Kennedy head coach Tim Lewis wants his team to peak at the right time. It looks like his ballclub is doing just that as Kennedy (7-3) steamrolled Prairie 42-14 (5-5) in the first round of the playoffs behind another dominate running attack and another impressive showing from the Cougar defense.
“We’re really excited the way we’re playing. The goal is to peak this time of year,” Lewis said. “The ultimate goal is to continue to give these guys the chance to play football.”
Kennedy did what they do best, run the ball. Senior running back Miles Moa ran for 147 yards on 25 carries. Senior quarterback Derek Jacobus ran for 79 yards and also completed five passes to lead the Cougars.
“We’re good upfront, we’re big and aggressive. Coach Cory does a great job of making the adjustments needed,” Lewis said. “As we see different fronts we see different ways people try to stack the box and Coach Cory is able to come up with on filed adjustments.”
The Cougar defense, led by Jordan Lunsford sr., forced three turnovers en route to holding another 1,000 yard rusher to under 100 yards rushing for the second straight week.
“Everybody just played their assignments. We we’re hitting hard and we were in their backfield constantly,” Lunsford.
Kennedy got off to a strong start opening up the game doing what they do best, running the ball. Kennedy went on an eight play 80 yard drive and Terrence Hall jr., capped it off with a one yard touchdown run.
After a Prairie touchdown Kennedy once again went on another long drive, this time running 12 plays for 72 yards. Senior quarterback Derek Jacobus connected with senior receiver Jacob Shannon for a 10 yard touchdown pass to give Kennedy a 14-7 lead going into halftime.
Then the physicality of the Cougar O-line wore down Prairie and Kennedy blew open the game in the third quarter.
Senior running back Miles Moa agrees, pointing out his O-line for most of his success as he opened up the second half with a three yard touchdown run to give Kennedy a 21-7 lead.
Then the Cougar defense recovered a Prairie fumble and the offense took advantage of the field position as Jacobus connected to Shannon yet again, this time for 24 yards to put Kennedy up 28-7.
A Trey Beckman jr., touchdown for Prairie cut Kennedy’s lead to 28-14 but the Kennedy’s defense came up big yet again, holding Prairie on a fourth and three to give the ball right back to their offense with short filed.
Moa and company took advantage of the short field and scored from three yards out.
Senior corner Logan Daughetee picked off Beckman and took it 80 yards to the house for the Cougars.
Kennedy will travel to Davenport Assumption (9-1) on Monday. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
