Fri - 07 Oct
Written by Mike Koolbeck
Chico Lizarraga was given the keys to the Kennedy offense Thursday night at Kingston Stadium and he played a near perfect football game.
Because of the defensive adjustments Iowa City West was making, Kennedy Coach Tim Lewis told Lizarraga, the Cougars' senior quarterback, to survey the set and call the play at the line of scrimmage.
Lizarraga responded with a career-best 347 passing yards and two touchdowns.
But the only blemish in his breakout performance proved to be fatal. A second-quarter fumbled pitch resulted in an Iowa City West touchdown that gave the Trojans a two-touchdown advantage. Kennedy never got closer than seven points the rest of the game and the No. 9 Trojans won, 35-28.
"We had a couple of big plays that were called back in the first half and in big games you can't do that," Lewis said. Kennedy had a kickoff return to the Iowa City West 36 and a 34-yard pass play that would have put the ball at the West 35 nullified by penalties.
And then came the fumble.
Kennedy trailed 14-7 late in the second quarter when Lizarraga fumbled the snap then pushed a pitch over the head of Alex Hillyer. West recovered at the Kennedy 20 and five plays later the Trojans' Anthony Brown punched into the end zone from the 2-yard line for a 21-7 lead with 1:14 left in the half.
"That was a big mistake," Lizarraga said. "I lost the snap, then I tossed it high. It was an 'Oh, no' type of thing. I rushed it and it came back to get us at the end of the game."
"The bottom line is that we shot ourselves in the foot too many times and it came back to haunt us in the end," Lewis said.
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