Kennedy Football

Cougars nearly perfect in 59-0 romp

Perfection is impossible to achieve in a high school football game, but the Kennedy Cougars came awfully close Wednesday.

The fourth-ranked Cougars spanked Clinton, 59-0, in the opening round of the Class 4A playoffs on a cold, blustery night at Kingston Stadium to cruise into the Round of 16.

Kennedy will host another game at Kingston Monday night.

Tyler Dralle broke the school record for most rushing yards in a season with another spectacular performance, Nick Duehr completed all 10 of his passes for 226 yards and four touchdowns, Shaun Beyer showed once again why he's considered one of the most versatile players in Iowa and the defense pitched its third shutout of the season.

But perfect? No.

Kennedy missed three PATs and lost a fumble, so perfection eluded them.

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Football playoff pairings set by IHSAA

It took until 2 a.m. Saturday morning, but the first round of the high school football playoffs were finally announced by the IHSAA.

Six Metro teams have qualified for the playoffs for the second straight year. Four of them are set to play home games in the opening round Wednesday night, although Jefferson's "home" game will be in Mount Vernon due to overcrowding at Kingston Stadium.

Cedar Rapids Kennedy and Cedar Rapids Washington both claimed Class 4A district championships and will play in a doubleheader at Kingston.

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Cougars cap improbable perfect regular season

WATERLOO – The final chapter of the first perfect regular season in Cedar Rapids Kennedy football history was written with the same fine ink the Cougars used on their journey here.

Stellar, unbending defense, dominating running, timely play action passing and exceptional third down execution on both sides of the ball told the familiar story of Kennedy overwhelming yet another opponent.

In fittingly imperfect, gloomy playing conditions Friday night -- a steady cold mist and light fog -- the Cougars capped off their improbable and historic historic 9-0 season with a 39-13 jet sweep past an undermanned Waterloo West team at Waterloo Memorial Stadium.

With Nick Duehr throwing for two touchdowns and Shaun Beyer sprinting for 166 yards off big wildcat formation plays, the Class 4A District 5 champion Cougars (9-0, 5-0) roared past the Wahawks and into Wednesday's first-round playoff game.

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Cougars clamp down on Cedar Falls

Easy does it, according to Kennedy Mountain Man Dalles Jacobus.

The 6-foot-2, 260-pound senior lineman and his defensive mates held Cedar Falls to 19 yards rushing (two in the second half) as they raised their record to 8-0 Friday night at Kingston Stadium.

“It’s easy when you’ve got all 11 guys doing what they’re supposed to be doing and playing at 100 percent the whole time,” Jacobus said in the locker room following the 21-7 win.

“If you’ve got a weakness here or there, they can attack that. But we don’t have any weak spots. And we pride ourselves on flying to the ball.”

Cougar coach Brian White, who can now claim a district championship in only his second year, couldn’t agree more.

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