Kennedy’s 24-7 Loss to Taft Is No Mystery

It wouldn’t take Sherlock Holmes and his big magnifying glass to deduce what is killing the Kennedy High football team this season.

It’s as elementary as 2-5-4 (as in 254 yards allowed rushing), and as predictable as Taft Coach Tom Stevenson wearing shorts to the game.

The Golden Cougars have no defense against the run.

Taft made that fact perfectly clear once again Friday night in a 24-7 Northwest Valley Conference game at Kennedy.

Kennedy also had its share of problems on offense after losing star tailback Ontiwaun Carter on the final play of the first period.

Carter, who rushed for 267 yards and four touchdowns last week against Crenshaw, was hit on the thigh by a Taft player’s helmet and suffered a severe bruise that kept him out for the remainder of the game. He finished with 46 yards in seven carries.

Carter’s backup, 5-foot-6, 145-pound sophomore Eli Raphael, gained 35 yards in 10 carries as Taft held the Golden Cougars to 64 rushing yards and 124 total yards.

“You can’t win without defense, and you can’t win without Ontiwaun,” Kennedy assistant coach Tom Sams said.

Kennedy (1-3, 0-1 in conference play), which has allowed 1,040 rushing yards, certainly was at a loss as to how to stop the Taft running game. The Toreadors (2-1, 1-0) punted only once, and that was because of a holding penalty.

“I’d have to say our offensive line and our running backs really jelled as a unit tonight and played the type of football we’ve been playing the last six years. It was great to see,” Stevenson said. “I was very disappointed Ontiwaun got hurt. He’s a great athlete. It took a little edge off the game for me personally.”

Stevenson’s players didn’t seem to mind.

Taft led, 10-7, at halftime and scored second-half touchdowns on a 13-yard run by Steve Lockridge in the third period and a seven-yard run by quarterback Edwin Velasco.

Lockridge finished with 58 yards in 11 carries. Taft was led by fullback Gregory Bernard, who gained 84 yards in 11 carries.

Four Taft ballcarriers rushed for 30 yards or more, and the Toreadors accumulated 311 total yards.

The Toreadors drove 90 yards to a touchdown on their first possession, staying on the ground for 15 of the 16 plays.

Wolfgang von Aspe scored the touchdown on a six-yard run, dragging Keith West into the end zone. Carlos Lopez added the kick, and Taft led, 7-0, with 45 seconds left in the first period.

Kennedy countered on the ensuing possession, going 74 yards.

The Golden Cougars moved to the Taft 14 in 12 plays, and on third and 10, quarterback Tony Vazquez passed to West in the end zone. Kicker Jason Rosen tied the score, 7-7, with 7:47 remaining in the first half.

On the last offensive series of a first half dominated by time-consuming drives, Taft marched from its 32 to the Kennedy three, where Velasco’s third-down pass fell incomplete in the end zone six seconds before intermission.

The Toreadors settled for a 21-yard field goal by Lopez to take a 10-7 lead at the half.

Kennedy had 115 yards in offense in the first half.