5 takeaways from Kennedy Catholic’s season-ending loss to Woodinville in the 4A state quarterfinals
Kennedy Catholic High School football’s undefeated run came to an end Saturday night at Renton Memorial Stadium.
After playing a competitive nonleague schedule, sweeping the Class 4A NPSL and earning the top seed into the 4A state playoffs, the Lancers were upended by eighth-seeded Woodinville, 55-42, in the quarterfinals.
Kennedy is the first No. 1 seed to be bounced from the state playoffs this season, and the first to lose before the semifinals in the WIAA seeding committee era.
Here are five takeaways from the season-ending loss:
LANCERS CAN’T DIG OUT OF EARLY HOLE
Woodinville led 28-0 less than a minute into the second quarter, and kept Kennedy chasing the rest of the way.
The Falcons marched down the field on their first drive, capping it with the Noah Stifle and Carter Smith 21-yard touchdown connection that gave them a lead they never lost.
Lancers quarterback Sam Huard, a UW commit, responded quickly, and led Kennedy back down the field. But, he threw an untimely interception on third-and-7 as the Lancers approached the red zone, and Joshua Spencer returned the pick 89 yards for a score to make it 14-0.
A three-and-out from Kennedy followed, and Woodinville capped another methodical, five-minute drive with a 3-yard quarterback keeper by Stifle. 21-0.
Two plays into their next drive, the Lancers fumbled. Woodinville scored three plays later on a 16-yard pass from Stifle to Joey Johnson, and suddenly the margin between the two teams was four touchdowns.
“We just wanted to come out and play our game, do what we could do, stick to our base stuff and just show them we’re a threat,” Johnson said.
Kennedy finally stopped the bleeding in the second, cutting the lead to three possessions, but that’s as close as it got until the waning moments of the fourth quarter.
Huard rallied his offense enough to make a late push, and the Lancers did get within two possessions with 55.7 seconds left, but Woodinville confidently iced the game by coolly recovering the ensuing onside kick attempt.
“We gave it a run and we fell short,” Kennedy coach Sheldon Cross said. “We ran out of time. … We made it interesting. We didn’t quit and I love that.”
WOODINVILLE IS PUNISHING ON THE GROUND
When Kennedy revamped its defense this offseason, the primary focus was to limit what opponents could do on the ground.
The strategy worked well most of the season, but wasn’t as effective against Woodinville.
“They could run the ball, and they did a good job of running the clock,” Cross said. “They played keep away for the most part.”
Joey Johnson paced the Falcons with 28 carries for 185 yards and a touchdown, Stifle added another 60 yards and two scores on 12 carries, and Drew Lozano pitched in 10 carries for 44 yards.
Woodinville racked up 287 yards on the ground behind a sturdy offensive line that includes Stanford commit Levi Rogers, and averaged 5.6 yards per carry.
“We have a great O-line and with what they can do, it helps us get great success in the run game,” Johnson said.
FALCONS NEVER HIT THE BRAKES
Woodinville scored on eight of its 11 offensive drives. Here are the results of each drive in order:
• 21-yard touchdown pass from Stifle to Smith
• (Spencer’s 89-yard interception return for a touchdown happened between the first and second drive)
• 3-yard rushing touchdown by Stifle
• 16-yard touchdown pass from Stifle to Johnson
• fumble
• 29-yard field goal by Blake Glessner
• 42-yard touchdown pass from Stifle to Cage Schenck
• 45-yard field goal by Glessner
• 1-yard touchdown run by Johnson
• 31-yard touchdown run by Stifle
• missed field goal
• kneel down to run out the clock
“I think they can win the whole thing,” Cross said. “I felt that the winner of this was going to win the whole thing.”
HUARD MOVES UP ON PASSING CHARTS
Looking ahead to next fall, keep an eye on Huard’s production because he projects to top all three of the state’s career passing charts by the time his senior season is over.
Huard finished 34-of-50 passing for 407 yards, three touchdowns and one interception against Woodinville, jumping up the all-time lists for passing yards, completions and touchdowns.
His 11,727 passing yards across 32 games his first three seasons rank fourth all-time. He passed Prosser’s Kellen Moore (11,367 in 44 games from 2003-06) in the second quarter against the Falcons. DeSales’ Brian Lindgren (12,575 in 39 games from 1996-98) is just ahead of Huard now in third.
Huard also jumped Eastside Catholic’s Harley Kirsch to move into fifth for completions in a career with 747. He was tied with Kirsch entering the game. Lindgren, again, is ahead of Huard in fourth (779).
Huard was sixth all-time in career passing touchdowns before the loss to Woodinville, but his three in the game bring his new total to 132, which is tied for fifth with Eatonville’s Bobby Lucht (45 games from 1991-94).
SMALLS IN THE BACKFIELD WAS A FUN TWIST
UW commit Sav’ell Smalls — who is 6-foot-3, 230 pounds — projects as an outside linebacker in college, and had his share of impressive tackles against the Falcons, but he proved just as exciting to watch in short-yardage situations on offense.
Saturday night, he led Kennedy in rushing with 53 yards on seven carries, punched in touchdown runs of 6, 13 and 3 yards, and often dragged several defenders along with him.
