By Joe Slye, Gem of the Sound Sports Reporter.
Kennedy vs. Auburn Riverside Recap – 10/13/2022
The Kennedy Catholic Lancers won big on Thursday night over the Auburn Riverside Ravens. It looks like the big play carried the Lancers to a 47-17 win. Still, there was plenty of other action between the highlight plays that carried Kennedy Catholic to another impressive win in their final non-conference game of the season. Auburn Riverside put up a good battle and held their own until the Lancers pulled away midway through the third quarter. The win puts the Lancers at 4-0 in conference and 6-1 overall. Riding a six-game winning streak and in control of the conference race, Kennedy Catholic now faces Tahoma and Mt Rainier in the final two games before playoff season begins. It is hard to say what the Lancers will see from the final two opponents, who both have some impressive wins but also some lopsided losses.
Kennedy Catholic started the scoring early in the first quarter on a 52-yard pass play from quarterback Devon Forehand to receiver Xe’ree Alexander. The catch was made on the 47-yard line; Alexander broke 3 tackles near the 40 and then took it all the way into the end zone for a touchdown. Auburn Riverside followed up with an 11-play 80-yard drive to score on a Jonathan Epperson 2-yard run. After the kickoff, Auburn Riverside flexed some muscle on defense with a timely sack to force a Lancer punt. The Ravens returned the punt to the Lancer 44-yard line. Nine plays later, Auburn Riverside scored on a 12-yard pass from Andrew Wold to Carter Rhooms to take the lead at 14-8 with 9 minutes to go in the second quarter. After the kickoff, both teams exchanged punts on stalled drives.
It looked like defense could take over the rest of this game, but Kennedy Catholic had other plans. The Lancers took the punt return to the 30-yard line and then marched 70 yards in 8 plays to score on an Indy Jones 2-yard run. After the kickoff, the Lancers again forced the Ravens to punt. Kennedy Catholic returned the punt to the 43-yard line and then scored on a one-play 57-yard pass from Forehand to Mason Hayes. Just like that, with 2 minutes to go in the second quarter, Kennedy Catholic is back on top 24-14 and looking like they will be cruising into halftime. However, the Ravens put together a nifty nine-play 32-yard drive to kick a 22-yard David Perez-Cortez field goal with 7 seconds remaining in the half for a 24-17 halftime score. A wild second quarter! Will they top all that in the second half?
In the third quarter, Auburn Riverside was unable to restart their offense, and on 3 possessions they had 3 punts while Kennedy Catholic had just one punt, along with a 13-yard Alexander scoring run and a 26-yard passing score from Forehand to Maclane Watkins. The Lancers are up 40-17 with 3 minutes to go in the third quarter. The Ravens showed some life after returning the kickoff to the Lancer 43-yard line. They piece together a much-needed drive, but things stall out on the 3-yard line; Auburn Riverside turns the ball over on downs just one play into the fourth quarter. Kennedy Catholic takes over on their 3-yard line with Mason Hayes under center. He fakes a handoff to the running back and keeps the ball for a dive off left guard. A huge hole opens in the line, and Hayes keeps going right up the middle and outruns everyone for a 97-yard touchdown! Lancers lead 47 to 17, and a final interception by Kenn
The big plays made it look easy for the Kennedy Catholic offense with touchdowns of 52, 57, and 26 yards passing plus a 97-yard rushing score. The other two scores were short runs. They also converted on 5 two-point conversions and one extra-point kick. The air raid offense was limited to 167 yards passing. The rushing attack carried the day with 322 yards on the ground. The Lancer offense had 489 total yards compared to the Ravens, with 102 passing and 110 rushing yards for a total of 212 yards. The defense was solid and kept Auburn Riverside in check all game except for a couple of series in the second quarter. The Ravens did not score in the second half. Kennedy Catholic forced the only turnover on a late-game interception of an Auburn Riverside pass. Fourth-down punts stalled several drives for each team. The Lancers had 3 punts, the Ravens had 5 punts, and both teams had one turnover on downs.
Next Friday, October 21, at 7:00 PM, Kennedy Catholic travels to Maple View Middle School Stadium in Covington to take on the Tahoma Bears in a conference game. Tahoma is 3-4 overall and 3-2 in the conference. The two Bear non-conference losses were to 3A Bonney Lake and 4A Woodinville, who now are both 2-5 overall for the season. Tahoma is coming off a 32-0 win over Kentridge last Saturday but also lost to Federal Way the week prior 61-14. Tahoma is another one of those hard-to-predict teams. They have been up and down all season, and so far, Kennedy Catholic has done well in games against an inconsistent opponent. The Lancers should be the clear favorite in this game.
