Two Quick, Late Strikes Lift Kennedy

Thirteen seconds. That’s all it took for Kennedy to change the momentum of a game, to turn a deficit into a lead, to turn the end of a season into a semifinal date with Newport Harbor.

The Fighting Irish (9-3) scored twice in a 13-second span of the fourth quarter and held off third-seeded La Mirada for a 21-14 victory in a Southern Section Division VI second-round playoff game Friday night at Glover Stadium.

Kennedy came in having given up fewer than nine points a game during their five-game winning streak, and La Mirada had given up only 89 points in 11 games, so a defensive contest was not a surprise.

What may have been was the game-winning touchdown by senior defensive end Eric Mull. The Irish tied the score at 14-14 on a 44-yard touchdown pass play from Geoff Etherson to Jaiya Howze, and on the next play from scrimmage, Mull picked off a pass by Chris Cox and ran it back 24 yards for his first touchdown of the year. Alex Vasquez converted to put Kennedy ahead 21-14 with 9:20 remaining.

La Mirada had two more chances to score, but Mull stripped Cox on one possession, and Cox threw four consecutive incomplete passes to give the ball over to Kennedy with 58 seconds left.

“That’s a huge win for us,” Kennedy Coach Mitch Olson said. “[La Mirada] hurt us on big plays, but our defense has carried us all year long and they played well all game.”

Rodney Ellis, Tim Reed and Nick Hensel were key contributors to the defensive effort that shut down La Mirada (9-3), which had advanced to section championship games in five of the past seven seasons.

Kelvin Beatty, the leading rusher for Kennedy, was held to 51 yards, but Etherson threw for 221 yards on 15 of 28 passing. Seven of those completions were to Steve Yaden.