Kennedy was led by (from left) Rocco Street, quarterback Derek Almazon and Benjamin Beasley in the win over Woodbridge. (PHOTOS: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).
Kennedy High School’s football team dominated from the start and rolled to its second straight victory, defeating Woodbridge 37-0 in a non-league game at University Friday night.
The Fighting Irish sealed the win when senior quarterback Derek Almazon connected with Cody Herrera on a 12-yard TD pass with 5:06 remaining in the game. The score was set up by Kennedy’s third interception of the night.
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The remainder of the game was played with a running clock.
A young Woodbridge team, led by first year coach Connor McBride, was shutout for the second week in a row.
“It was a little bit of a sloppy win but I’ll take the victory, hats off to Woodbridge,” said Kennedy’s first year coach Toa Siatunu’u. “I’m proud of the way the kids played, we have to tighten up some things though.”
Almazon led the way completing 14 of 21 passes for 126 yards and three touchdown passes.
Benjamin Beasley had a big game for the Fighting Irish with a 72-yard punt return in the first quarter that put Kennedy ahead 14-0. He also hauled in a 50-yard TD pass from Almazon to make it 20-0 later in the opening stanza.
Rocco Street also had a 1-yard TD run to get the scoring started for the Fighting Irsh and hauled in a 23-yard TD pass. Street had four catches for 57 yards. Joey Villagrana accounted for the other Kennedy score with a 34-yard field goal that made it 30-0 in the fourth quarter.
Almazon, Street and Bosley led the way for Kennedy, which raised some eyebrows with an opening week 35-13 win over Pacifica.
“I can’t say enough about those guys,” the coach said. “They work hard, they came out here and played and put on a good showing.”
Beasley missed last week’s game with an injury.
“It was a good two wins,” Alamazon said. “They were two team wins, the offense doing their thing, the defense doing their thing, the special teams doing their thing too but we have to get back to practice. We have a bigger goal than this, we want to keep playing until Christmas, we got to keep working out.”
Beasley was also happy to contribute.
“I just think my blockers set it up for me,” Beasley said of his punt return for a TD. “It was great blocking from everyone, good chemistry rom everyone. The team was disciplined. It was just a good overall team win. Let’s keep it rolling.”
And the TD catch?
“Couldn’t do it without my QB, he sent it perfectly on the dot, I just had to run and get it,” he said.
Woodbridge was led by freshman quarterback Waylon Stone, who showed some improvement in the second half and wound up passing for 94 yards with three interceptions. Senior running back Kayjahn Pitts rushed for 72 yards on 13 carries.
Stone appeared to be leading the Warriors to their first TD of the year when Woodbridge drove to the Kennedy 9-yard line in the second quarter. But Mahseiah Banks intercepted a pass to end the drive.
Backup quarterback Joey Coykendall had three completions for 29 yards for Woodbridge and receiver Elijah Morris had five catches for 52 yards.
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
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