Cougars Slay Dragons for First Win

It took two days, but Kennedy is in the win column for 2010.

Quarterback Adrian Rose threw for a score and ran for another, and Joey Karo added a TD run, as Kennedy defeated Westbury 25-6 in Conference II action. It was the Cougars first win in the young season, and the first for new head coach Nick Martone.

The game kicked off Thursday in Bellmore under threatening skies. Shortly after the second half began came the lightning, and both teams were pulled from the field.  Rules state that action cannot resume until 30 minutes after a lightning bolt is seen.

It quickly became apparent that wasn't going to happen, as a wicked storm blew through the region.  Play was suspended, and resumed on Friday.

The 24-hour halftime presented quite the interesting challenge for coaches and players alike.

"It was quite the experience," Martone said.  "The boys having to go through two full days of school...it's hard enough to play after a full day of academics, it took us a little while to get going [again], but we got back on what we were doing yesterday."

Kennedy wide receiver Will Colon added: "It was hard, coming back...we had to stay focused and keep our heads up, knowing we were going to come out and win."

In 'Part I' of the Kennedy-Westbury affair, the Cougars didn't waste any time putting their first points of the year on the board.  A personal foul on Westbury helped out on the first drive, and Colon's 30-yard field goal capped it off.

In the second quarter, Kennedy linebacker Carmine Ciniglio stripped Westbury's Kyle Vaughan of the ball, and returned it to the Green Dragon 9-yard line. 

Karo's TD run was negated by a penalty, but the Cougars weren't about to put Ciniglio's strip to waste.  On fourth down, they went for it, and Rose hit Colon on a 5-yard TD pass to put Kennedy up 9-0 (extra point no good).

"[Coach] had trust in our team, he felt we should go for it, and I came down with it," Colon said.

After Westbury went three and out, Kennedy continued their offensive resurgence.  Karo ran 40 yards to the Westbury 11.  Three plays later, Rose ran it in from three yards out, and the Cougars had the 15-0 lead they would carry through a storm and into Friday.

The unexpected day off seemed to benefit Westbury when play resumed.  They continued their drive that began the day before, going 73 yards for the score, a Jourmel Castma 29-yard TD run.

After a sloppy three and out, the Kennedy defense made sure there would be no post-storm comeback.  Matthew Gavigan intercepted Westbury QB Billy Casseus on a tipped pass late in the third.  In the fourth, Dan DiBiasi recovered a Dragon fumble, leading to a Colon 37-yard FG to cap the day's scoring.

Karo scored his TD prior to the fumble, part of a huge afternoon for the senior RB.

"You look at his size, he's not the biggest kid in the world," Martone said.  "[But]when you try and line up on the opposite side of the ball and try and square up and hit him, Joey usually ends up giving you more than you give him."

Overall it was a complete turnaround from the week one loss to Elmont.  Coach Martone believes his squad can carry the momentum into next Friday's game, under the lights at Long Beach.

"[Westbury] scored 34 points week one," Martone said. "To come out here and [we] score 25 points and beat them this way feels pretty good."

And perhaps next week, the Cougars will get a chance at one of those old fashioned, 'one day game' wins.