Western’s Defense Overpowers Kennedy : Neither Penalties or Irish Can Stop the Pioneers in 23-0 Victory

Western High School did more to stop itself Friday night than Kennedy’s defense. The Pioneers were penalized 17 times for 157 yards in their nonleague game against the Irish in Anaheim’s Handel Stadium.

But Western was still able to emerge with a 23-0 win that evened its record at 1-1 before a crowd of 950.

Even with their starting quarterback injured in the fourth quarter, Western still scored 13 points to put the game out of reach. Rich Lodding went to the bench with a leg injury early in the final period but replacement Mike Huy ran the offense successfully in his place. Huy’s only pass went for a touchdown.

Faced with a fourth-and-11 from the Kennedy 21, Jim Howell, Western coach, elected to go for a first down. Huy then threw into the corner of the end zone to Steve Hefferan, who jumped over a Kennedy defender to catch the scoring pass.

Western scored the last touchdown of the game on another fourth-down play. Starting quarterback Lodding returned to the game to punt. Only, instead of kicking, he passed to Ruben Gomez who caught the ball on the Kennedy 30 before running the rest of the way into the end zone.

Howell was happy with the play of his defense but not his offense.

“We were a bit of a mess out there,” he said. “Our offense was very undisciplined, but our defense did a very good job every time they were asked to.”

The defense rose up one last time to stop Kennedy (0-2) four times inside Western’s own 10 as the final seconds expired.

The defensive line of the Pioneers spent most of the night chasing Kennedy quarterback Todd Bristow. He ended the night with just 36 yards passing, as he completed five of 12 attempts, and had a -37 yards rushing. Bristow was sacked eight times.

Leading the way for Western were defensive tackles Dan Price and Vince Galaz, who each had a pair of sacks. Price’s sacks came on back-to-back plays.

Thanks to a first-quarter touchdown, Lodding and Huy were not faced with the must-pass situations that confronted Kennedy for all of the second half.

The Pioneers took advantage of one of Kennedy’s four turnovers to take the early lead. After the Pioneers recovered a Fighting Irish fumble on the Kennedy 21 with 5:51 left in the first quarter, Western scored on the next play. Bob Posadas, the leading rusher in the game with 61 yards on 14 carries, scored a 21-yard run.

Neither half started well for Kennedy, as it turned the ball over on the first play each time.