By Joe Slye, Gem of the Sound Sports Reporter.
Kennedy Tahoma Recap – 10/21/2022
The Kennedy Catholic Lancers scored early and often on Friday night to secure a 50-7 win over the Tahoma Bears. From the opening kickoff, the Lancers made it look easy. At halftime, Kennedy Catholic was ahead 43-0, leaving little doubt that the Lancers would win and go 5-0 in conference play and 7-1 overall.
Kennedy Catholic has the blueprint for team success: score early, score often, control the other team with defense, and let everyone play.
Kennedy Catholic started the fireworks by taking the opening kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown. Xe’ree Alexander fielded the ball on the 3-yard line, picked up a wall of blockers going up the right hash marks, and outraced a lone defender to the end zone. After a two-point conversion, the Lancers were up 8-0 and never looked back. Starting quarterback Devon Forehand led a Lancer drive that included a nifty 24-yard pass play to Mason Hayes and a touchdown pass that made it 16-0. Then Payton Faker took his turn at quarterback, hitting Maclane Watkins for a 45-yard gain and adding a short touchdown toss. Still in the first quarter, Kennedy Catholic is up 24-0.
The second quarter was not any kinder to Tahoma. Stopping the Lancer offense would not happen on this rainy Friday night. A delayed shuffle pass from Faker to running back Zach Schell turned into a 31-yard touchdown as Schell powered his way over three defenders for a touchdown.
Next, Alexander took a handoff on the 18-yard line, weaved his way up the middle, and broke three tackles to score. Then the final score of the second quarter was a 42-yard strike from Faker to Maclane Watkins in stride in the end zone for a Kennedy Catholic lead of 43-0 at the half. The Lancer offense was churning out the yards, both passing and running. The defense performed quite nicely as well.
While the offense was gaining 446 yards, passing for 288 yards and running for 158, the defense held Tahoma to just 175 total yards. The Bears had some nice plays with 96 passing and 79 running, but the Lancer defense held them to zero third-down conversions and intercepted two passes to stall most drives. Tahoma had decent field position and some chances to drive for a score but could not sustain consistent possessions. Once they fell behind early in the game, it was a tall task to ever get back in the game.
As we have seen the last few weeks, this was another really solid team effort. The offense spread the ball around all game. Forehand was 10 for 12 passing, and Faker was 8 for 9. Hayes and Watkins each had five receptions and Schell had seven rushing attempts and four receptions. Alexander had a kickoff return score and a rushing touchdown, and sophomore running back Indiana Jones had 45 yards on six carries. The defense also had a list of players who recorded tackles, led by Nathaniel Barnes with five solo tackles.
Now on a seven-game winning streak and in control of the conference race, Kennedy Catholic faces Mt Rainier in the final game before playoff season begins on October 29th, at 1:00 PM, at Highline Memorial Stadium. It will be Senior Day next Saturday and the Lancers last step in securing their fourth straight conference championship.
Mount Rainier is 5-3 overall and 3-2 in the conference. The Rams beat Kentridge 17-14 last Friday evening in a game delayed from Thursday due to poor air quality from the fires in the Cascade Mountains.
The previous week they lost to Federal Way 44-0. Once again, the Lancers will take on an inconsistent team that is hard to predict. Scorebook Live has the Lancers ranked as the #11 team in the state, and MaxPreps has them at #12.
Though Kennedy Catholic has a lot on the line — focused on climbing in the rankings, a Conference title almost in hand, and it is Senior Day — the Lancers look again to be the clear favorite in this game.
