Kennedy Takes Wind Out of Reseda, Sails to Victory

When asked about his team’s surprising 5-1 start before its game against Kennedy High, Reseda Coach Joel Schaeffer shrugged and said his team is a motley crew that usually finds a way to win. It’s a group of scrappy players seemingly stuck together by glue.

Friday night, the Regents came unglued.

Kennedy running back Donte Scarbrough scored the first two times he touched the ball and added a third touchdown as the Golden Cougars put seven points on the board in each of their first four possessions.

They didn’t score after that, but they didn’t need to in a 28-12 Northwest Valley Conference victory.

Kennedy (3-3-1, 2-2 in North Valley League play) started its scoring 50 seconds into the game on a 37-yard run by Scarbrough and was finished three plays into the second quarter on a 10-yard run by Scarbrough.

In between, Scarbrough scored on a 43-yard run and quarterback Daniel McMullen connected with Shaun Dudra on a 53-yard pass for another touchdown.

Two minutes into the second quarter, the Regents (5-2, 2-2) stood stunned on the sidelines, trailing, 28-0.

“Come on, guys, keep your heads up,” Schaeffer said. “Don’t quit.”

The Regents hurt themselves in the first half with a dropped pass, a penalty that erased a 24-yard completion and three sacks of quarterback Reggie James (11 carries, minus-70 yards) that ended drives. Reseda also had a long touchdown pass and a two-point conversion called back in the second half.

“We’re known as a comeback team, but once they hit those three scores in the first quarter, we were hopeless,” said Reseda running back Tyrone Francis, who had a 93-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. “Our confidence was really low.”

And Reseda couldn’t rally back in time. James scored on a two-yard run to make it 28-12, but only 3 minutes, 21 seconds remained.

“We had a great week of practice and the offensive line was giving me big holes,” said Scarbrough, a 5-foot-8, 160-pound senior who finished with 168 yards in 17 carries. “I was untouched.”

Francis finished with 108 yards in four carries for Reseda.