Kennedy High School - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Strait, Meier lead Cougars to tourney win

It wasn’t always pretty, but Kennedy did what it had to in order to advance, winning 66-60 at Prairie on Wednesday night in the first round of the Class 4A girls regional tournament.

The Cougars (9-13) led by as many as 11 points in the second half but the Hawks (4-18) refused to give up, clawing their way back into the game. Kennedy's lead was only 51-49 with 6 minutes left, but the Cougars had an answer for every Prairie run and were able to fend off the Hawks.

“Prairie played outstanding and hard,” Kennedy Coach Dennis Roloff said. “They play an aggressive game and if they don’t get called they are in every game.”

The Hawks just couldn’t stop Kennedy’s offensive duo of  junior Courtney Strait and senior Olivia Meier, who led all scorers with 25 and 19 points, respectively.

“Those two, we could not stop the basketball,” Prairie Coach Steve Doser said of Strait and Meier. “We really struggled stopping penetration and that killed us. Good players make plays and they did.”

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Cougars overwhelm Hempstead hoopsters

It’s the final week of the regular season in Class 4A boys basketball and Kennedy is in a battle with Dubuque Wahlert for second place in the Mississippi Division of the Mississippi Valley Conference, thanks to a relatively easy 77-60 win over Dubuque Hempstead Tuesday night at Kennedy.

No. 7 Kennedy (16-4, 11-4 MVC) had the lead throughout the Senior Night game. The Cougars are tied with Wahlert for second place, four games behind Linn-Mar, with one game remaining in the regular season.

 “I wanted consistency on both ends of the floor tonight,” Kennedy Coach Bob Fontana said, “and I think we got that.”

The Cougars close out their season Thursday at Valley Division champion Cedar Falls.

Kennedy was paced by Jacob Manning with 20 points. Kyle Lamaak chipped in with 14 and Christian French, the University of Oregon football recruit, had 10. French excited the crowd with a couple of monster dunks as he riddled the Mustang defense.

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Season-high score not enough to beat Jeff

Four Jefferson bowlers bowled 200-plus games and three broke the 400 series barrier, and the J-Hawks clobbered Kennedy, 2967-2629, Tuesday in a Mississippi Valley Conference girls bowling meet at May City Bowl.

Whitnie Jones rolled games of 237 and 211 for a 448 series that led the J-Hawks (12-3, 10-1 MVC). Allie Trcka fired a 243 for high game and had a 400 series. Jenna Alff also had a 400 series with a high game of 209. Courtney Moore rolled a 206.

Jefferson recorded its high score of the season in its regular season finale.

Caitlin Dicus had the line for Kennedy (14-5, 7-4). Amanda Weidemeier rolled a 201 and a team-high 366 series. Kennedy's score also was its highest of the season.

Both teams compete next in the Class 2A regional tournament Saturday. Jefferson is at May City, Kennedy is at Marshalltown.

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Custer fires 247 in loss to J-Hawks

Dan Healy had the hot hand, rolling a 257 high game and 440 series that led Jefferson past Kennedy, 3201-2853, Tuesday in a Mississippi Valley Conference boys bowling meet at May City Bowl.

The score was Jefferson's highest since it scored 3284 in its season opener. Four J-Hawks rolled 400-plus series. Will James was at 433, Michael Kilts 428 and James Bruce 420.

Jefferson closed out the regular season 11-6 overall and 7-4 in the MVC.

Kyle Custer shot a 247 high game and 401 series for Kennedy (6-10, 3-8).

KENNEDY (2853): Austin Marshall 232-376, Jared Staub 184-348, Kyle Custer 247-401, Casey Sheets 201-366, Troy McKiernan 212-392.

JEFFERSON (3201): Michael Kilts 214-428, Will James 230-433, Tory Youker 225-376, James Bruce 217-420, Dan Healy 257-440.

First round -- Jefferson 2097, Kennedy 1883. Baker round -- Jefferson 1104, Kennedy 970

Cougars escape with Roloff's 300th win

Somebody forgot to tell the spunky Marion girls it was supposed to be rollover for Roloff Saturday night at the Kennedy gym.

Veteran Cougar Coach Dennis Roloff was going for his 300th win in a 20-year career at the school. Not many figured the party would be spoiled by a middle-of-the-pack 6-14 team from the Class 3A Wamac conference.

But it took a couple of improbable turn of events in the last 37.5 seconds of a roller coaster game for Kennedy (8-13)  to escape with a 50-49 near-miracle victory.

Roloff himself wasn’t one of those who thought the big school/small school match-up would be in the bag.

“They’re very well coached,” he said after a post-game celebration at midcourt.

“We knew their kids would come ready to play and play hard. And for 31 minutes and 30 seconds or so, they played wonderful.”

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Lamaak's 24 lead Cougars

 WATERLOO - High-powered Cedar Rapids Kennedy struggled at the free-throw line before escaping with a 75-63 win at Waterloo West Saturday night in a makeup boys basketball game.

Kennedy got 24 points from Kyle LaMaak, but the Cougars were just 9-for-28 from the free-throw line. The Cougars (15-4, 10-4) snapped a two-game losing streak.

Trent Washington led Waterloo West (7-12, 4-10) with 19 points, while Dominick Smith and Dale Jones chipped in 12 apiece.

KENNEDY (75): Jake Manning 6 4-9 16, Darius Fuller 2 0-0 4, Jake Misener 1 2-5 5, Herschel Dixon 1 0-0 2, Kyle Lamaak 12 0-1 24, Josiah Coleman 4 2-8 11, Christian French 6 1-3 13. Totals 32 9-28 75.

WATERLOO WEST (63): Trent Washington 8 2-3 19, Malcolm Smith 0 0-0 0, Dominick Smith 5 4-8 12, DiMarco Mallett 2 0-1 4, DaQuan Moore 0 3-4 3, Carderius Smith 2 3-4 7, Dale Jones 5 1-2 12, Tre Johnson 2 2-2 6, Austin McMahon 0 0-0 0. Totals 24 15-24 63.

Halftime -- Kennedy 38, Waterloo West 27. 3-point goals -- Kennedy 2 (Misener 1, Coleman 1), Waterloo West 2 (Washington 1, Jones 1). Fouled out -- Jones, Johnson.

Cougars crown 4 district mat champs

EPWORTH -- They held a demolition derby at Western Dubuque High School Saturday and called it a Class 3A district wrestling tournament.

Linn-Mar survived a day of bloody noses to trim Prairie, 223-207.5, for the district title on a day that had a little of something for everyone.

A little happiness, a little sadness.

Prairie and Kennedy crowned four individual champions apiece, Linn-Mar captured three titles and Xavier notched one as Metro wrestlers nabbed 12 of the 14 individual crowns.

On the unhappy side, quality individuals like Prairie 103-pounder Trey Blaha, Xavier 171-pounder Peter Ickes and Linn-Mar 189-pounder Mark Atwater did not qualify for the state tournament at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines Feb. 17-19.

"It's tough to see a good kid not be able to reach their dreams," Linn-Mar Coach Doug Streicher remarked.

The top-2 finishers at each weight class qualified for the state tournament. Blaha and Atwater both finished third, as did other talented wrestlers.

Chris Walters (119), Zach Witte (145), Cameron Rathje (152) and Andrew Netolicky (189) earned district titles for Prairie.

Luke Kremer (135), Ryan Rodriguez (140), Jordan Baskerville (160) and Ryan "Living Dangerously" Sheldon (171) captured individual crowns for Kennedy.

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No. 3 Cougars overpowered by Jefferson

Jarrod Uthoff bought a ticket and watched his future teammates at the University of Wisconsin defeat Iowa in a physical game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Wednesday night.

It inspired him Friday night against Kennedy.

Uthoff scored 26 points, snared a career-high 19 rebounds and blocked five shots as No. 9  Jefferson upended the third-ranked Cougars, 53-44, at  Jefferson.

The 26 points were typical (he leads the state at 26.2 per game), but the 19 rebounds and five blocks were nearly twice his norm. He played a fierce, inspired game at both ends of the court, 48 hours after watching that physical game in Iowa City.

"I realized I need to get a lot stronger and be more physical to play in the Big Ten," he said. "And I figured I should start playing like it right now."

Uthoff is 6-foot-8 and 190 pounds, but he's gained 10 pounds of muscle since last season and does a better job of catching the ball in traffic. He's also a stronger defender and held Kennedy's Jake Manning to six points, about half his average.

Kennedy Coach Bob Fontana thought Uthoff played great.

"He wanted it," said Fontana. "It was important to him. He stepped up. And that's why he's the player he is."

Asked if Uthoff should be Mr. Basketball in Iowa this year, Fontana thought for a minute, mulled other possible candidates and responded, "Yeah. I think he is."

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Cougar girls shoot down J-Hawks

Kennedy's Dennis Roloff moved one game closer to a coaching milestone Friday night when the Cougars clobbered Jefferson, 66-44, in a Mississippi Valley Conference girls basketball game at Jefferson.

The win was the 299th of Roloff's 20-year career at Kennedy. He goes for his 300th Saturday night in a home game against Marion.

“It’s just another game,” Roloff said.

Courtney Strait, who led the Cougars with 17 points, said she would like to be a part of the team that gets Roloff his milestone win. “We think we can do it, we feel confident,” Strait said. “We haven’t felt any pressure to get this win so that should help.”

Kennedy (7-13, 6-10 MVC) came out hot against the J-Hawks. The Cougars made their first three shots and continued to shoot the ball well throughout the game.

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