Kennedy Football Trounced by Trojans

The Kennedy Cougars ended their 2010 season with a loss against the playoff-bound Garden City Trojans, 35-0, on Saturday afternoon.

The Cougars were plagued by mistakes and penalties. The team was called for six penalties, senior quarterback Adrian Rose threw two interceptions that were returned for touchdowns, and the team fumbled once.

"Those couple of turnovers for scores killed us," Kennedy head coach Nick Martone said after the loss.

The Cougars looked to have scored on an 80-yard touchdown pass from Rose to fellow senior Joey Karo, but a blocking in the back penalty during Karo's run to the end zone brought the ball back to the Trojan 45-yard line.

While the Cougars were held scoreless, Rose did go 10-for-16 for 139 yards through the air. Along with the big play to Karo, Rose also connected with Matthew Gavigan on a 25-yard pass in the second quarter.

Karo also played a good game before going down with an injury in the second quarter. He carried the ball eight times for 36 yards, and caught two passes for 53 yards.

"Losing Joey [Karo] was bad today," said Martone of losing his running back.

And while the Cougars were able to string a few plays along here and there, the mistakes in between decided the football game.

Rose threw both interceptions in the second quarter. The first came after Rose had completed four passes in a row to get the Cougars to the Trojan 28-yard line.

On the first play of the quarter, Rose was intercepted by Trojan linebacker Stephen Jahelka. Jahelka, a two-way player who also plays fullback, took the ball and ran 77 yards for a touchdown.

Rose threw his second pick right before halftime. Rose dropped back, and this time Trojan cornerback Matt Confort stepped in front of his pass and took it 20 yards for the touchdown.

In the second half, the Cougars had a tough time moving the ball with Karo out and could only manage to gather 60 yards of total offense.

Even though the Cougars struggled, Martone did applaud his team's effort.

"I'm real proud of our kids and how they played today," he said.

The game also marked the final time the seniors would take the field, as the Cougars failed to qualify for the playoffs.

"We had to say goodbye to our seniors today," Martone said. "... They'll be missed as players and as people."

While Kennedy ends the season with a 2-6 record, Martone thought that the team was headed in the right direction.

"It's tough when the players have three coaches in four years," Martone said. "Hopefully we are starting the process."