Kennedy Catholic Claims League Title In 51-14 Win Over Lindbergh

The Lindbergh football players added a new word to their team's vocabulary Thursday night during their league championship game against Kennedy Catholic.

Adversity — a state, condition, or instance of serious or continued difficulty.

It was a long and difficult road for the Eagles. The team only dressed 23 players Thursday due to injury or ineligibility — an ongoing fate for the team. However, the Eagles stood strong and never gave up in their 51-14 loss to the Lancers, who have won 19 of 24 league titles since joining the league in 1989.

. They did it their freshman year 21-14. (Lindbergh is 1-23 against Kennedy overall).

With Stuart on the sidelines, Holt and Callen took it upon themselves to lead the team. Both scored the only points for Lindbergh. Just before halftime, quarterback Tyrell Shavers threw to Holt in the corner to trail 21-7.

Callen told his team at halftime in the lockeroom "leave it all out on the field, I want to see us crawl to the bus." Callen also asked the group when this season has the team been losing at half, they all replied "never."

On the second half kickoff, Kennedy's Antonio Wynter ran 87 yards down the field for a touchdown in what Head Coach Pat O'Grady calls "that play that broke our backs." The Lancers went on to score another 23 points in the the third quarter.

Callen scored late in the fourth quarter on a 13-yard run down the near sideline.

The game had many ups and downs with a blocked kick, and several sacks for the Eagles. The down side proved to be too much as the Eagles lost Trevonn Russell (ankle injury) and Jarrett Holt (knee injury) before halftime. They also lost Forrest Boissonneau (knee injury).

After the game O'Grady told his team: "Its a loss. We don't like to lose. But in the grand scheme of things we are ok." O'Grady's concern now shifts to getting players healthy before next week's playoff game. "We lost our left side of the offense with injuries."

O'Grady has another issue to figure out, during the third quarter in what he's calling a communication issue with the side judge to the referee, quarterbacks coach Jeff Stuart was ejected for unsportsmanlike conduct having made a comment about the referees vision. O'Grady was also given a flag for unsportsmanlike conduct, but was not ejected. "Our concerns were for the calls not being made for player safety," O'Grady said.

According to rules, Stuart is now forced to sit out the next game. He later apologized to O'Grady for his actions.

Scoring Summary

First quarter

Kennedy - Colin Cossette 6 run (kick blocked)

Kennedy - Antonio Wynter 10 run (Desmond Thompson kick)

Second quarter

Kennedy - Thompson 3 run (Cossette kick)

Lindbergh - Derrick Holt 9 pass from Tyrell Shavers (Holt kick)

Third quarter

Kennedy - Antonio Wynter 87 kickoff return (Cossette kick)

Kennedy - Thompson 22 run (Cossette kick)

Kennedy - Conner Richardson 11 run (Cossette kick)

Kennedy - Cossette 4 run (Cossette kick)

Kennedy - Safety (bad snap out of end zone)

Fourth quarter

Lindbergh - Cam Callen 13 run (Holt kick)

Playoffs:

Lindbergh's opponent could be named tonight, but a possible tiebreaker game would play in the Eagle's favor. The Eagles will play the South Puget Sound League fourth seed (currently a three-way tie with Clover Park, Steilacoom and Washington). Clover Park hosts Steilacoom and Washington hosts Franklin Pierce. The loser of the Clover Park/Steilacoom game is the likely opponent.

Kennedy will play the winner of Friday's WesCo 3A game between Mountlake Terrace and Marysville Getchell.