There comes a time in everybody’s life when they realize they won’t be able to something anymore. For the seniors on the football team, reality now sets in as the football season is over. Their long ride through the football program is done and now they must move on. The season concluded with a 48-26 loss at Iowa City High on Oct. 26 in the first round of the State Playoffs. The team fell down 41-0 in the first half. Alex Hillyer, jr. returned a kickoff at the end of the first half and the team battled back to within 41-26 in the fourth quarter.
“We needed a big play…I tried to make something happen. There were good blocks,” Hillyer said. He thought the season went pretty well and is excited for next year. “We are a young team and were pretty inexperienced but I’m looking foreword to next year,” Hillyer said.
The season started out with tough losses to Xavier and Linn Mar, but then beat Washington for the first time since 2006. Their final record was 5-5. “We had a better record than a lot of people thought we would because we were only returning two offensive starters and two defensive starters,” Coach Tim Lewis said He also added the Cougars got better with every game and fought hard.
“We never gave up, even when the offense started slowly. We played well and the defense played tough,” Trevor Heitland, sr., said. Heitland was a running back that made big contributions to the team, gaining 714 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns. The Cougars are a young team, with two sophomore starters on the offensive line and one sophomore starting linebacker. “You could tell we were young the first couple of games. We got much better as the season went on, which is ultimately what we are looking for,” Lewis said.
The ending to their season is bittersweet with the seniors realizing they will be replaced by the underclassmen next year. “It’s sad (knowing I won’t play for Kennedy again) because I had a lot of fun and a lot of good times playing here. It was fun playing with this group of guys; it was nice being with all my friends,” Heitland said.
Next year will have 19 returning players that started at least one game this year. “We are really excited for next year. We have a lot of people coming back next year. There are a lot of good sophomores coming up. We gotta work in the off season because experience means nothing unless we work,” Lewis said.
