It was a Friday evening of jubilation all around on Senior Night for the Kennedy Cougars at Kingston Stadium.

Senior scatback Miles Moa celebrated his 18th birthday by lugging the ball 34 times for an even 300 yards as the Cougars whipped fifth-ranked Iowa City High, 35-14.

Kennedy (6-3) will host Prairie (5-4) in the first round of the Class 4A playoffs Wednesday at 8 p.m. at Kingston Stadium.

Not surprisingly, Moa left the game with leg cramps with eight minutes left to go, but by then had pushed his season rushing mark to 1,125 yards.

Fellow senior quarterback Derek Jacobus recovered from a 2:30 a.m. visit to the hospital emergency room by running for two touchdowns, including a 45-yard return of an onside kick. He had urinated blood the night before, even though he said he never felt sick.

“The doctors said I shouldn't play,” the happy-go-lucky team leader explained. “But they didn't say I couldn't play.”

Oh, and Kennedy performed flawlessly in all phases of the game to knock Iowa City High by 21 points in a match that really wasn't as close as the score would indicate.

The Cougars snapped a seven-game win streak for City High (7-2). And while they had no passing yards Friday night (with three attempts and one interception), the sky-high Kennedy kids rammed the ball mostly down the middle for 361 yards.

“We ran a pretty simple offense,” said Coach Tim Lewis. “Off tackle right, off tackle left.

“We thought about starting to throw some. But we were gaining so many yards, we just kept running right at 'em.”

On the other side of the ball, a stout gang-tackling line held the previously prolific Little Hawks to just 164 yards in total offense and a mere 38 yards on the ground.

Flashy running back Xavier Washpun, who entered the game second in Class 4A with 1,472 rushing yards along with 16 touchdowns, could manage only 75 yards on 17 carries. The rest of the City High runners lost 37 yards.

“We wanted to control Washpun, so we focused on him,” Lewis said. “And we wanted to make them think about doing other things.”

Kennedy's offensive scheme was set right from the start when Jacobus was intercepted on the fourth play of the game. So much for an aerial show.

City High botched a field-goal attempt from near midfield and the Cougars took advantage with a quick score.

Moa, who is generously listed at 5-foot-9 and 180 pounds, smashed into the line three straight times and then took off around left end. He outran everyone for a 56-yard scamper.

“He was a bruiser all night,” said Jacobus. “He was running over people, juking them out and even jumping over some.”

Kennedy held Iowa City to three-and-out on its next possession, and then it was time for Jacobus to shine.

He handed the ball off to Moa nine times in a row, then faked to him and scurried 31 yards down the sideline to put the Cougars ahead by two touchdowns midway through the second quarter.

The Little Hawks finally scored on a 9-yard pass late in the quarter. But on their four possessions in the first half, they gained just 34 yards rushing and 40 passing.

“Our defense was great.” Jacobus said. “We came into the game confident we could do some damage. And when we found out we could run the ball, we really got rolling.”

Moa, who had 150 yards at halftime, peeled off a 51-yarder through the middle and to the outside early in the second stanza.

After another Kennedy defensive stop, the Cougars took over at their own 20. This time, Moa carried the ball seven straight plays as he marched his team to the Hawks' 7-yard line. For once, he was stacked up for no gain at the end of a six-minute drive that came up empty.

By that time, he was about done in for the night.

“I didn't have any idea how many times I ran or how much I made,” Moa said afterward. “I knew I had to get 175 yards to reach 1,000, so that's all I wanted.”

He'd done that and more by the time cramps in both legs took their toll.

“I'm fine,” he said. “I was just feeling a little tight.”

In his place, though, senior Marcuso Foy picked up the slack by giving the Cougars a 28-7 lead in the fourth quarter with a 3-yard plunge.

Washpun finally got on the board with a 4-yard run with four minutes left. The touchdown gave Little Hawks kicker Drew Cornwell an extra-point try that tied the state record for kicking points at 224 over his four-year career.

The luster was soon lost, however, when his subsequent onside kick was plucked out of the air by Jacobus, who ran untouched for a touchdown.

“That's the first I've ever fielded a kick,” he clarified. “Terrance Hall is usually in that position on the hands team, but he hurt his hand so they put me in there.

“When the ball bounced, it took a big hop and I knew I could go get it. I got by one guy and just took off.”

Jacobus figured the play made up for last week when he had a long run nullified on a penalty for high-hurdling over a defender.

“I'm still mad about that one,” he laughed. “I wanted to make a highlight reel.”

Moa's 300 yards on the ground are the third-most in Metro history, according to Metro Sports Report records. Paki O'Meara ran for 349 yards for Washington in 2005 and Jer Garman gained 313 yards for Linn-Mar in 2010.

KENNEDY 35, IOWA CITY HIGH 14

ICH         CRK
First downs                9            14
Rushes-yards          33-38       48-361
Passing yards           126            0
Comp.-att.-int       7-14-0        0-3-1
Fumbles-lost            1-0           0-0
Punts-avg              5-45          1-6
Penalties-yards        4-25        3-25

Iowa City High     0  7  0  7 – 14
Kennedy            7  7  7 14 – 35

CRK – Moa 56 run (Schulz kick)
CRK – Jacobus 31 run (Schulz kick)
ICH – Jones 9 pass from Wieland (Cornwell kick)
CRK – Moa 51 run (Schulz kick)
CRK – Foy 3 run (Schulz kick)
ICH – Washpun 4 run (Cornwell kick)
CRK – Jacobus 45 kick-off return (Schulz kick)

Individual statistics

Rushing
City High – Washpun 17-75, Wieland 9-minus 31, Runge 2-minus 6.
Kennedy– Moa 34-300, Jacobus 6-32, Foy 4-32, Hall 1-3, Blank 2-minus 2, Cook 1- minus 4.

Passing
City High – Wieland 7-14-126-0.
Kennedy – Jacobus 0-3-0-1.

Receiving
City High – Jones 4-32, Loehr 2-74, Washpun 1-20.
Kennedy – none.