Kennedy High School - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Cougars hammer Warriors, 41-28

Kennedy got nailed in its first two football games of the season, but turned the hammer loose Friday night and surprised cross-town rival Washington.

Junior Alex Hillyer ran for 208 yards and three touchdowns and senior Trevor Heitland also scored three touchdowns to lead the Cougars past the Warriors, 41-28, in a Mississippi Valley Conference game at Kingston Stadium.

Kennedy (1-2) came into the game with just 81 rushing yards after losses to Xavier and Linn-Mar. The performances prompted Kennedy Coach Tim Lewis to make a few personnel changes and challenge his team to play a more physical game.

"I try to pick a different theme each week and this week I talked about us being the hammer and not the nail," Lewis said. "We were definitely the nail the last couple of weeks and I think they showed tonight that we can play that hammer type of football."

The Cougars ran the ball 57 times for 307 yards against Washington (2-1). Heitland, who was switched from running back to flanker at the start of the week when Lewis decided to make Hillyer the feature back, still ran 16 times for 74 yards and two touchdowns. He also caught six passes for 100 yards and a touchdown.

"(Coach) got on us, especially the seniors, about keeping our heads up and come out and keep fighting and working hard because this season will turn around," said Heitland, who rushed for more than 900 yards a year ago. "That's what we did. We just kept fighting."

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Cougars hold off Saints at CRANDIC

On a day in which scores were higher than expected, Kennedy was carried by medalist Cody Bell to its fifth straight championship of the CRANDIC boys golf tournament Tuesday at Hunters Ridge Golf Course.

It was an ideal day for golf, or most anything else: Sunny and dry, moderately cool and near windless.

The third-ranked Cougars, state runner-up last year, won with a score of 321, two strokes ahead of a resurgent Xavier group.

Jefferson recorded a solid team effort to finish a surprising third at 329, one shot better than host Linn-Mar in the eight-team field.

The tournament favorite, Bell recorded back-to-back scores of 38 en route to a 4-over 76 to claim individual honors. Xavier senior JP King came in second with a 78, and senior teammate Jason Beer was a stroke back at 79 to tie for third with Jefferson senior Eric Lehmkuhl. Beer led after nine holes with a 37, despite taking a double-bogey 7 on the second hole.

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Drew Wall embraces life on one leg

After shooting his best-ever nine-hole round of 56 in the season-opening all-Metro high school meet two weeks ago, Kennedy golfer Drew Wall was sorry to miss last week's match, if only to support his teammates.

But, as they say, he had a prior engagement.

On Wednesday, the 15-year-old freshman was one of the featured speakers at the 11th Annual Kirk Ferentz Football Kickoff Luncheon in Iowa City. Afterward, few in the crowd of 300 dignitaries were talking about the coach's remarks. Or those of Iowa President Sally Mason. Or Terry Branstad or Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds. Or anybody else, for that matter.

A three-column headline on the front page of the Iowa City Press-Citizen the next day used a quote from UI vice president of medicine Dr. Jean Robillard, who called the young man "a hero, a true winner" for his courage and determination.

"It was pretty cool," Drew said later, equally excited by the laughs he got "from a couple of one-liners I threw out" and the Hawkeye jersey with his name on the back presented by the head coach himself.

It was nothing new for him to tell his life story and, as an unofficial poster boy for the university's Children's Hospital, tell how lives besides his own are being saved there every day.

And that he's now a member of the Kennedy golf team, with his right leg cut off at the knee and walking on what he lovingly calls his "bionic leg."

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Linn-Mar's dream is nightmare for Cougars, 42-14

Andy Henry had a dream.

In that dream, he grabbed the opening kickoff at new Linn-Mar Stadium and raced for a touchdown to help the Lions christen their $10 million park in style.

Dreams do come true.

Henry sprinted 95 yards with the opening kickoff Friday night and No.8 Linn-Mar squashed Kennedy, 42-14, in the first varsity football game ever played in the Lions' new den.

"Yeah, I definitely dreamed about it," he said. "But I didn't know I was going to return it like that. I don't think anybody got close to me."

Kennedy did not lay a finger on Henry, which is pretty much how it went all night for the struggling Cougars.

Linn-Mar (2-0) led 35-7 at halftime and ignited a continuous clock when it took a 42-7 lead with 5:53 left in the third quarter. This was a Mississippi Valley Conference blowout of major proportions before roughly 5,500 fans.

The Lions held Kennedy (0-2) to 123 yards of total offense and were three times better than the visitors. Linn-Mar finished with three times as many yards (369 to 123) and three times as many points (42 to 14).

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Bell brothers take on sports – and life's – challenges

With a sturdy 6-foot-4 frame, Kennedy senior Cody Bell towers over his older brother Chris, looking every bit the multi-sport athlete who has made his mark in both baseball and golf. But it’s Chris, he’ll tell you, who is the strong one.

“Chris has taught me a lot,” Cody says. “He’s really helped me with the mental aspect of my life, as well as the physical. I feel if he stays that strong, there’s no way I shouldn’t be happy with the way my life is going.”

Four years Cody’s senior, Chris was diagnosed at age three-and-a-half with a degenerative disease called Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva (FOP), which causes bone to form in muscles, tendons, ligaments and other connective tissues, gradually restricting movement.

It’s a disease so rare – affecting only 1 in 10 million people – that it was first misdiagnosed as cancer before University of Iowa physicians were able to identify the cause of the lump that had formed on Chris’ shoulder. Shortly after the devastating diagnosis, Cody was born.

The boys’ parents, Jim and Nancy Bell, began learning about FOP and threw themselves into efforts to raise funds for research into the disease. Creating an event called Angel Wings Golf and BBQ, they raised an astounding $180,000 through five tournaments.

“We had a lot of help from family and friends,” recalls Nancy. “We would fill 36 foursomes and have a waitlist.” After that, she says, “we retired the event to focus on raising the boys.”

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Sharp Saints overwhelm Cougars

The Battle for 42nd Street turned out to be more of a pillow fight Friday night at Kingston Stadium.

Xavier junior Reggie Schulte threw three touchdown passes and senior Carter Valentine ran for 152 yards to lead the No. 10 Saints past Kennedy, 28-0, in a Mississippi Valley Conference football opener.

Both teams lost a lot of key personnel from last year's teams, which both qualified for the playoffs. Kennedy beat Xavier, 11-7, in the playoffs after getting blown out by the Saints 35-7 in the season opener.

The Saints functioned like a team composed of veterans on both sides of the ball Friday. Xavier had 434 yards of total offense to just 142 for Kennedy. The Cougars had only 19 yards through the first three quarters.

"We just tried to execute. We preached all summer long to just do your job," Xavier Coach Duane Schulte said.

"That is a good team," Kennedy Coach Tim Lewis said of Xavier. "They do what they do very well."

What the Saints do best is run downhill behind a talented offensive line.

"Our offensive line blocked well and made the plays for us," said Valentine, whose 43-yard run on a draw play gave the Saints a first down at the Kennedy 11 on the first series of the game. Valentine, a state qualifier in the 110 hurdles last spring, carried the ball only eight times for 38 yards last season as backup to 1,000-yard rusher Pat Chizek.

"We were hoping we'd have something (special) there in him," Coach Schulte said. "He had an older brother, Mitch, who played for us and was a tough kid."

Reggie Schulte tossed a 2-yard touchdown pass to senior Kevin Hosch to cap the first drive and Chad Gilmer's PAT kick gave the Saints a 7-0 lead with 7:07 left in the first quarter.

The Saints struck quickly twice in the second quarter. Schulte fired touchdown passes of 26 and 43 yards to senior Jordan Hoffman and Xavier's lead shot to 21-0 with 8:20 left in the first half.

"Our offensive line made the blocks and our ends made a couple of good catches to make me look good," said Schulte, who was starting his first varsity game after guiding the sophomores to a 17-1 record the past two seasons. "I think we have some pretty good chemistry."

Schulte, who completed 8-of-13 passes for 179 yards, is the son of the coach, who was hesitant to heap praise upon his son.

"My son Reggie had some great teammates helping him," the elder Schulte said. "Hayden Fry used to always say 'Scratch where it itches.' We tried to do that. Our line blocked well on those (scoring) plays, our receivers made some good catches and Reggie made some good throws. We put it all together."

Kennedy senior defensive back Josh Jahlas, the Cougars' leading tackler from a year ago, said Xavier took advantage of some Cougar mistakes on the scoring plays.

"We had three blown coverages," he said. "I got caught cheating up inside they took advantage. Everything that happened is fixable, but we're going to have to fix it in a hurry because (Linn-Mar quarterback Mark) Atwater will do the same thing next week."

The Cougars, who started out the season 1-4 a year ago before running off six straight wins, play at No. 8 Linn-Mar (1-0) next Friday night.

"I'm not discouraged," Jahlas said. "We moved the ball but couldn't score when we got the ball down there."

Kennedy turned the ball over on downs in Xavier territory three times in the second half and also had two costly turnovers. Trailing 28-0, the Cougars fumbled into the end zone from the Saints 4 for a touchback with 7:12 left in the game. Three minutes later, Xavier junior Cal Stovie intercepted a pass at the 2 after the Cougars had reached the Saints' 7-yard line.

Xavier's defense was as impressive as its offense for three quarters, limiting Kennedy to 19 total yards. Eleven of Kennedy's 53 offensive plays went for negative yardage.

"We told the team all week about getting up to the speed of the game and we weren't ready," Lewis said. "I think they found out the coaches knew what they were talking about. We'll learn from that. I think we learned a lot tonight."

The only negative Coach Schulte could point out was the 10 penalties against the Saints.

"I don't know how many penalties we had, but it was too many," he said. "Other than that I thought we executed."

Xavier hosts Prairie (0-1) next Friday night.

Lewis said senior tight end Cody Whitham suffered a possible separated shoulder.

Xavier won the sophomore game, 7-3.

XAVIER 28, KENNEDY 0

Xavier        7   14    0     7   --   28
Kennedy    0    0     0    0    --    0

CRX -- Kevin Hosch 2 pass from Reggie Schulte (Chad Gilmer kick)
CRX -- Jordan Hoffman 26 pass from Schulte (Gilmer kick)
CRX -- Hoffman 43 pass from Schulte (Gilmer kick)
CRX -- Matt Hansen 3 run (Gilmer kick)

Team Stats

First downs -- CRX 19, CRK 10

Rushes yards -- CRX 47-255, CRK 25-43

Receiving yards -- CRX 179, CRK 99

Comp-Att-Int -- CRX 8-13-1, CRK 13-28-1

Punts-avg. -- CRX 2-28.0, CRK 6-38.3

Fumbles-lost -- CRX 3-1, CRK 1-1

Penalties-yards -- CRX 10-73, CRK 5-25

Individual Stats

Rushing -- CRX: Carter Valentine 22-152, Matt Hansen 12-53, Cal Stovie 7-22, Jordan Weber 1-20, Nick Ball 1-20, Nick Hazelton 2-1, Reggie Schulte 2-(minus 13); CRK: Trevor Heitland 10-42, Chico Lizarraga 5-9, Josh Jahlas 2-(minus 2), Alexander Hillyer 8-(minus 6).

Passing -- CRX: Schulte 8-13-1-179; CRK: Lizarraga 13-28-1-99.

Receiving -- CRX: Corbin Woods 3-50, Jordan Hoffman 2-69, Kevin Hosch 2-18, Weber 1-42; CRK: Jahlas 4-40, Hillyer 3-14, Shane Williams 3-13, Heitland 1-26, Cody Whitham 1-6, Benjamin Struss 1-0.

Cougars hoping for faster start in 2011

The Cedar Rapids Kennedy football team wrote its own version of "The Agony and the Ecstasy" last year.

The Cougars dropped their first three games of the season and began the year with a 1-4 mark.

That was the agony.

They rallied, won six straight games and reached the quarterfinals of the Class 4A playoffs.

That was the ecstasy.

"That's probably not the plan this year," said Josh Jahlas, who led Kennedy in tackles last season. "We want to start off strong."

Starting the season with a 1-and-4 record is usually a recipe for disappointment.

"It worked out last year, but we hope not to do that again," said tailback Trevor Heitland, who rushed for 929 yards in 2010. "Hopefully we start strong and end strong and play strong throughout the whole season."

There were three main reasons for Kennedy's slow start last year.

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Stewart fires 64 as Kennedy takes MVC golf title

Brigham Stewart had never broken 70 in a competitive round of golf in his life.

He has now, in grand style.

Stewart fired an 8-under-par 64 at Twin Pines Golf Course Thursday and teammate Cody Bell carded a 66 as Kennedy captured the Mississippi Valley Conference Super Meet by 11 strokes.

Stewart, a senior, has shot 70 and 71 before, but had never dipped into the 60s until he tamed the 5,802-yard layout at Twin Pines on a picture-perfect day for golf.

"I played well. I putted pretty well, the driver was really working," he said. "I'm really happy with a 64.

"This is the first time cracking 70," he said. "Hopefully this is just the start."

The Mississippi Valley Conference begins the boys golf season with its Super Meet with all 14 schools in attendance, so the golfers have to be sharp from the start. The Super Meet is the first of three tournaments to decide the conference champions. The Super Meet scores carry over to the divisional meets on Sept. 12 and Sept. 26.

The Cougars have a huge lead because they were razor sharp.

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Terrell Sykes is Kennedy's little big man

Terrell Sykes never listened when anyone said he was too small to play baseball.

He didn't listen when he was 4-foot-4, and he doesn't listen now that he's 5-foot-4 and one of the best players for one of the best high school teams in the state.

Sykes is an all-star second baseman for Kennedy High School and one of the reasons the Cougars have a chance to win their second straight Class 4A state title this week.

He's hitting .443 in the leadoff spot for the sixth-ranked Cougars, who will play Fort Dodge in the quarterfinals of the state tournament at Principal Park in Des Moines Wednesday at 6 p.m.

Sykes just smiled when anyone said he was too small. He smiled, then proved them wrong.

"I just went out there and did my thing," he said.

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