GARDEN GROVE LEAGUE FOOTBALL : Despite a Slow Start, Kennedy Earns Victory

Winless Garden Grove gave a lethargic Kennedy team a scare for two quarters. But in the second half, Kennedy remembered it was the first-place team and promptly blew away Garden Grove, 24-7, Saturday night at Western High.

“We’ve done this before,” Kennedy Coach Mitch Olson said. “If we come to play, we can play with anybody. But when when we play like this, we can lose to anybody.”

The Fighting Irish (5-1, 3-0) held the much smaller Argonauts (0-6, 0-3) to 17 yards offense and no first downs in the second half. On the other side of the ball, Kennedy got its running game going and quarterback Chris Clark (13 of 20 for 129 yards) completed seven of nine passes for 61 yards and a touchdown.

“They haven’t won a game, but they’re tough,” Olson said. “We went into the game like they were going to hand it to us. All they did was come out and kick our butts. The guys realize you just don’t walk out on the field and get a win.”

Garden Grove fell behind, 7-0, when Kennedy’s Charlie Marino scored on a seven-yard run, but the Argonauts tied it before the half on Jeff Meyers’ one-yard run, which was set up by Jon Hamm’s 33-yard run. Hamm had 65 yards in eight carries in the first half, but he rushed only once in the second half for no gain.

Kennedy’s Wesley Morris set the tone in the second half by returning the kickoff 59 yards to the Garden Grove 30. Seven plays later, Chris Clark kicked a 35-yard field goal to put Kennedy ahead, 10-7.

Garden Grove, who ran the ball effectively in the first half, came out throwing in the third quarter. But Argonaut quarterback David Pixler produced only three yards on two passes.

Kennedy showed Garden Grove that the first half was a fluke when it marched 63 yards in 11 plays to go ahead, 17-7. Morris scored with 30 seconds left in the quarter on a leaping one-yard catch of a Clark pass.

Garden Grove’s next possession--two incompleted passes and a run--gained nothing and suddenly the Argonauts’ chances for an upset were over.

“I think we acted like they were going to run into our arms in the first half,” Olson said. “We started playing defense in the second half.”

Darrin Martineau scored Kennedy’s last touchdown on a 16-yard run on a dive play. Kennedy running back Charlie Moreno, who in the first half was held to 23 yards in seven carries, finished with 68 yards in 16 rushes.