The Kennedy Cougars thought they could cover Iowa City West receiver Jeremy Morgan with somebody six inches shorter Thursday night.

They came up a mile short.

Nate Boland lobbed two touchdown passes to the 6-foot-6 Morgan on Iowa City West's first two possesions and the No. 5 Trojans left Kingston Stadium with a 35-14 victory over the winless and frustrated Cougars.

Jacob Shannon, a 6-foot senior, was the unfortunate victim of Morgan's first two touchdown grabs. Kennedy switched Shannon from safety to cornerback this week and gave him the assignment of trying to stop Morgan all by himself.

"Jacob Shannon is one of the best athletes that we have," said Kennedy Coach Tim Lewis. "He's the fastest kid we have back there and he jumps the highest."

Unfortunately for the Cougars, Morgan is a superior athlete who jumps almost higher than anyone in the state, whether he's starring for the state champion Iowa City West basketball team or the explosive Trojans football team.

"It was a crapshoot personnel-wise, is what it was," said Lewis. "We knew physically we were going to be outmatched. We had our best guys and they were trying, but that's quite a weapon."

The Cougars shuffled their defensive backs after the bad start and put Donovan Kosman on Morgan, which stabilized the situation and helped Kennedy claw back into the game at 21-14 behind the running of Alex Hillyer.

It looked like the Cougars (0-3, 0-1) might battle the Trojans (3-0, 1-0) to the end, but Boland and Morgan had other ideas. Morgan caught a quick slant and did a 360-degree spin to shed Kennedy defenders and race into the end zone for his third touchdown of the night to make it 28-14 with 4:45 left in the third quarter.

Boland passed for 274 yards and hit Morgan with touchdown plays that covered 38, 42 and 17 yards. Morgan finished with six catches for 163 yards and he could have had more if Iowa City West Coach Brian Sauser hadn't changed plans in the middle of the game.

The Trojans passed for 225 yards in the first half, but Sauser did not like the complexion of the game with a 21-14 lead. He deliberately switched from a passing attack in the first half to a running attack in the second half to send his players a message.

Iowa City West averaged 55.5 points in its first two victories, but Sauser didn't think his guys were being tough enough on the field. He wanted to change that.

"I think this might have been a good wakekup call for us, because we got pretty comfortable the first two games, kind of sleepwalking around and putting up big numbers," he said. "And Kennedy wasn't going to let us do that."

The Trojans threw only four passes in the second half after tossing the ball 18 times in the first half.

"Our guys did a great job in the second half, answered the bell, shut them out and ran the football like crazy," said Sauser. "We weren't going to throw it. Even if we got stopped every single play the second half, we were going to run it and run it until our guys made a decision inside.

"We feel we can throw it most nights all the time, but it really felt like all of a sudden we were becoming really soft again. We knew we were running it and they knew we were running it and they couldn't do anything about it. And that's a great feeling."

It was a miserable feeling for Kennedy. The Trojans ran for 170 yards in the ballgame, giving them 444 yards of total offense and 24 first downs. The Cougars finished with 220 yards, with Hillyer carrying the load with 36 runs for 168 yards.

"They just ran the ball right down our throat," said Lewis. "That's pretty disappointing."

Iowa City West has three outstanding receivers with Morgan, Dondre Alexander (5 catches for 63 yards) and Reid Bonner (3 catches for 45 yards). The Cougars could not double-team everyone, and Morgan torched them on the first two drives by grabbing jump-balls for 27 yards, 38 yards, 27 yards and 42 yards.

Hillyer ran for 103 yards in the first quarter and scored on a 2-yard burst to pull the Cougars within 14-7. Iowa City West made it 21-7 in the second quarter, but Riley Fergus hit Joel Smetzer with a 5-yard touchdown pass to pull Kennedy within 21-14 with 37 seconds left in the half.

Kennedy took the second-half kickoff and marched into Iowa City West territory with three first downs. The Cougars, needing a touchdown to tie the game, faltered at the 24-yard line and lost the ball on downs.

Iowa City West marched 76 yards and scored on a 17-yard touchdown pass to Morgan after running the ball on nine straight plays.

Hillyer said he felt okay after the game, despite the heavy load with 36 carries. "It feels fine," he said. "No problem."

The game was marred by 20 penalties, including 12 against Iowa City West for 130 yards.

Kennedy visits Dubuque Senior next Friday, hoping to avoid an 0-4 start.

"All we know how to do is get up the next morning and start over from scratch," said Lewis. "That's what we'll keep doing."

IOWA CITY WEST 35, KENNEDY 14

ICW        CRK
First Downs      24         16
Rushing          37-170     43-147
Passing          15-22-0    8-15-0
Passing Yards    274        73
Punts            4-28.5     3-36.3
Fumbles/Lost     1/0        2/1
Penalties        12-130     8-80

Iowa City West    14  7  7  7 -- 35
Kennedy                7  7  0  0 -- 14

Scoring Plays

ICW - Jeremy Morgan 38 pass from Nate Boland (Mueng Sunday kick)
ICW - Morgan 42 pass from Boland (Sunday kick)
CRK - Alex Hillyer 2 run (Eric Bertroche kick)
ICW - Micah Kelsay 1 run (Sunday kick)
CRK - Joel Smetzer 5 pass from Riley Fergus (Bertroche kick)
ICW - Morgan 17 pass from Boland (Sunday kick)
ICW - Colin Baker 1 run (Sunday kick)

Individual Statistics

Rushing
Iowa City West: Ezra Reiners 11-56, Nate Boland 7-46, Micah Kelsay 7-31, Colin Baker 6-18, Tavian Smith 1-15, Devin Raffensperger 2-5, Orion Phillips 2-5, Brock Hatzky 1-minus 6.
Kennedy: Alex Hillyer 36-168, Miles Moa 1-5, Riley Fergus 6-minus 26.

Passing
Iowa City West: Nate Boland 15-22-0, 274 yards.
Kennedy: Riley Fergus 8-15-0, 73 yards.

Receiving
Iowa City West: Jeremy Morgan 6-163, Dondre Alexander 5-63, Reid Bonner 3-45, Micah Kelsay 1-3.
Kennedy: Eric Bertroche 3-24, Jacob Frazier 1-14, Alex Boomershine 1-12, Alex Pins 1-11, Seth Gilmore 1-7, Joel Smetzer 1-5.