Kennedy Strolls Past Buena Park

For Kennedy, winning never was really in question Saturday night against struggling Buena Park. The Fighting Irish, hoping to break back into the county’s top 10 football rankings, were more concerned with winning convincingly.

Save for a 92-yard touchdown return on the first play of the game by standout Garrett Sabol, Kennedy looked less than persuasive in the first quarter.

After that, however, Kennedy rolled to a 32-13 victory in front of about 800 at Western High.

“Last week [in a 35-21 victory over Valencia] we didn’t hit and our goal was to come in and hit. . . . That’s the only way we can survive,” Kennedy Coach Mitch Olson said.

Rodrigo Cordova kicked a 24-yard field goal to lift the Fighting Irish (4-1) out of a 7-7 tie less than a minute into the second quarter.

On Kennedy’s next possession, quarterback Tom Haas completed passes of nine and 11 yards to J.D. Jones. Jack Tucker had one carry for eight yards to bring the Fighting Irish to the 16 yard-line.

On the next play, Haas passed to Andre Banks for a 16-yard touchdown play. Haas ran in the two-point conversion attempt to make the score 18-7.

Jones intercepted a Gasso pass on the Coyotes’ next possession. Eight plays later, Jones scored on a nine-yard pass play from Haas to put the Fighting Irish ahead, 25-7, with 30 seconds remaining in the first half.

Haas completed a 52-yard pass play to Sabol on Kennedy’s first play from scrimmage in the second half to bring the Fighting Irish to the Coyote 28. After Chuck Adame carried for four yards, Sabol caught a Haas pass at the seven-yard line then made two, two-yard runs and scored on a three-yard run to make it 32-7.

The Coyotes (1-4) turned the ball over twice after that, for a total of four turnovers.

“We were just hoping to improve on last week’s performance We started out doing it, but we turned the ball over a couple times and it hurt us,” Buena Park Coach Manny Saiz said.

For Kennedy, winning a third-consecutive Empire League title might rest on its special teams--Kennedy allowed two Buena Park kick returns of more than 40 yards and one of more than 30.