The third-ranked Kennedy boys soccer team continued to roll Thursday, beating Jefferson 3-2 at Kingston Stadium.

The Cougars (4-0, 3-0 Mississippi Valley Conference) jumped on top of the J-Hawks (2-4, 1-2) in the 24th minute on a free kick from junior midfielder Gabe Christianson from about 35 yards out.

“I just saw it, I had a good angle on it, so I just laced it up and hit it and bent it into the side netting. It was exciting,” he said.

Gabe Christianson struck again when his brother, senior forward Garet Christianson, found him deep in the penalty box. He struck it across the goal, hitting the far side post and bouncing it in. It came just 1:34 before halftime, giving the Cougars a 2-0 halftime lead.

“That second goal we lost a mark,” said Jefferson Coach John O’Connor. “That is kind of our trademark, we lose marks every once in a while.”

Kennedy struck again early in the second half and looked poised to run away with the game when Garet Christianson took a pass from Matt Peak and sneaked it along the ground into the bottom corner of the net.

Jefferson wouldn’t quit, however.

“That was really big for us, to be down three to nothing and to decide to come back and play hard,” O’Connor said. “We kept our heads up and we fought hard. We took our opportunities up top and our penalty kick was earned by the great hustle from Tomas (Damjanic).”

The penalty kick came in the 58th minute and Esam Al-Yasseri hammered it home.

“I hit it as hard as I could in the right-hand corner and luckily it went in,” Al-Yasseri said.

The J-Hawks kept the pressure on and managed to break down the Kennedy defense again in the 76th minute. Lucas Shatzer took a pass from Damjanic and hit a hard ball on the ground that got underneath Kennedy keeper Ben Feltes and went in.

“We were just trying to sit in there and defend,” Gabe Christianson said. “They brought it to us really hard there for a little while and put that second one in and it got a little scary, but we were able to edge them out.”

Kennedy 3, Jefferson 2

Goals -- Kennedy: Gabe Christianson 2 (24th, 38th), Garet Christianson (43rd);  Jefferson: Esam Al-Yasseri (58th), Lucas Shatzer (76th). Assists -- Kennedy: Garet Christianson, Matt Peak; Jefferson: Tomas Damjanic 2.