Taft Wins in Statistics, Kennedy Wins the Game

Kennedy High matched the Valley’s top-ranked defense big play for big play, got a first-half field goal from Greg Friedman and beat Taft, 3-0, Friday night in a nonleague game at Taft.

Taft actually was superior to Kennedy both on offense and defense, but the Toreadors, despite 303 total yards, couldn’t score.

Their final drive was typical.

Led by quarterback Ray Daniels (14 of 21, 132 yards) and running back Kevin Wolfe (153 yards in 24 carries), the Toreadors drove 83 yards, only to lose the ball on downs.

They had second-and-seven at the Kennedy nine, but a run by Wolfe up the middle was followed by two incomplete passes.

The second pass went through the hands of running back Monty Gilbreath, who was open in the corner of the end zone.

Kennedy, which ran up 184 total yards against a defense that had been yielding an average of only 32, then ran out the clock and Taft had lost for the first time in three games.

Kennedy also is 2-1.

“The score tells it all,” said Taft Coach Tom Stevenson. “It doesn’t matter how we outplayed them.”

The Toreadors had four drives fizzle out inside the Kennedy 20-yard line and had a fourth-quarter touchdown called back on a pass-interference penalty against Wolfe.

Gilbreath caught the 20-yard pass from Daniels near the goal line, but the officials ruled that Wolfe, running a pattern in the same area, had blocked a Kennedy defender while the ball was in the air.

Taft dominated the first half, but trailed after Friedman kicked a 39-yard field goal with 20 seconds left.

Running back Roman Carter had picked up a first down on the previous play, so it was an unusual call by Kennedy Coach John Haynes.

Explained Haynes, who used his final timeout of the half following Carter’s run: “If we’d thrown out of bounds, we would have had to kick from the hash mark. And if we’d tried to throw into the end zone, we might have gotten sacked.

“I guess what I’m trying to say is, we had enough confidence in (Friedman) that we didn’t want to give away three points.”

Especially against a defense that hadn’t given up any points this season until that point.

Kennedy’s had only 60 total yards until it got the ball with 1:17 remaining after stopping a Taft drive at its 27-yard line.

A 14-yard run by John Thomas was followed by a 25-yard run by Carl Smith, and suddenly the Golden Cougars were within Friedman’s range.

Three more running plays netted 11 yards before Friedman’s kick.

Taft finished the half with 160 total yards, including 95 rushing yards by Wolfe, and twice drove inside the Kennedy 20, only to be turned back.

Both drives ended with incomplete fourth-down passes by quarterback Daniels.