5 takeaways from Kennedy Catholic’s rout of 4A NPSL rival Kentwood
Kennedy Catholic High School quarterback Sam Huard made history with another 500-plus yard passing performance, three of his receivers finished with more than 100 yards, and the undefeated Lancers held Kentwood its lowest point total this season in a 60-17 win Saturday afternoon at Highline Memorial Stadium.
Here are five takeaways from the game:
1. Huard passed Rypien on the state’s career passing list before the first half came to a close
Huard departed Kennedy Catholic as the all-time passing leader in the state of Washington.
Huard, the five-star senior quarterback who will continue his remarkable football career in college with the hometown Huskies, reset the state’s career record Saturday afternoon at Highline Memorial Stadium in Burien.
With a 12-yard swing pass to running back Leland Ward on a check down on Kennedy’s final drive of the first half, Huard passed former Shadle Park quarterback Brett Rypien on the all-time list.
“I didn’t know how close I was,” Huard said. “I was just trying not to think about it. We were just trying to be locked in and every time someone brought it up, I would just be like, ‘Hey, listen, let’s go score this next drive.’ That’s kind of been our mindset.
“But, when I got it, it was definitely a great moment — hugging Coach (Sheldon) Cross, hugging all of my teammates, because it’s not just an individual record, it’s such a reflection of our entire team.
“Every offensive lineman who’s played in this system, every receiver, Coach Cross with the Air Raid system dialing it up every single week and just pushing us to grow as people and as players. It’s just such a great reflection of our entire program and our entire school.”
Huard finished his final high school game — the University of Washington signee will enroll early for spring practices, and reports to Seattle on Sunday — completing 40-of-56 passes for 514 yards and eight touchdowns.
It was the seventh time in his career he has thrown for more than 500 yards in a game. He was pulled late in the fourth quarter and given an ovation from the crowd as the Lancers closed out the win.
Huard finished his career 847-of-1,356 passing for 13,226 yards and 153 touchdowns in 35 games.
He becomes the second player in state history to throw for more than 13,000 yards in his career, eclipsing the previous record set by Rypien (13,044 yards in 39 games from 2011-14), who went on to star at Boise State and now plays in the NFL for the Denver Broncos.
Huard was on pace to shatter all of the state’s career passing records had COVID-19 not delayed and shortened the season.
Prosser product Kellen Moore, who also played at Boise State before playing in the NFL for the Lions and Cowboys, holds the state’s career touchdowns record with 173 in 44 games between 2003-06. Rypien still holds the record for most completions in a career (1,006) by a wide margin.
Huard ends his career ranked third in state history on both of those lists.
2. Three Kennedy players tallied more than 100 receiving yards
Huard connected with six different receivers Saturday. Three of them — including two bound for Pac-12 programs — finished with more than 100 yards.
Jabez Tinae, who will join Huard at UW, tallied a game-high 155 yards and two scores on nine catches. He had touchdowns of 35 and 32 yards.
Junior Alexander, an Arizona State signee and Huard’s top target last season, hauled in 11 passes for 143 yards and three touchdowns of 14, 11 and 10 yards.
Ward, a Western Colorado commit, finished with 14 catches — including the record-breaker — for 152 yards and touchdowns of 6 and 20 yards. He also rushed for 56 yards on 11 carries, and had a 80-yard kickoff return in the third quarter that set up a touchdown.
Huard also connected with WSU-bound Reed Shumpert for 28 yards on three catches, and Lamont Richardson for 29 yards on two catches.
The final completion of Huard’s career was on a 7-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Maclane Watkins.
“They mean everything to me,” Huard said of his receivers. “Definitely one of the most emotional parts was knowing that I’m not going to be able to play with Junior these next four years. He means the world to me. He’s never missed a game since we’ve been here as a freshman. I can always count on him, always rely on him. He’s truly a great teammate, and a brother to me. Same with Bez. He’s been here since Day 1. And Reed, we played 7-on-7 with him and he was able to step in his sophomore year.
“Just the connection with these guys, it really shows on the field and I just couldn’t be more blessed to have the best receiving corps in the country.”
3. Kennedy’s defense held the Conquerors to their lowest scoring total this season
Like Kennedy, Kentwood was undefeated entering this 4A North Puget Sound League meeting.
The Conquerors topped Kentwood, 20-13, in Week 1, and Federal Way, 27-7, in Week 2, but only found the end zone twice against the Lancers.
Kennedy had already built a two-touchdown lead when Kentwood got on the board in the second quarter on a 22-yard field goal from Thomas Allam. The Conquerors reached the 5-yard line before quarterback Jackson Proctor was dropped in the backfield for a 3-yard loss, and then threw consecutive incompletions to set up a fourth-and-goal.
Kentwood didn’t reach the end zone until its first drive of the third quarter, when Lole Tapasa barreled in for a 1-yard score. Tapasa added another 1-yard scoring run the following drive, but Kennedy had built a three-score lead by that point.
Isaiah Malloe also hauled in a pair of interceptions in the game to end Kentwood drives.
4. Running back Lole Tapasa a bright spot for Kentwood
The Conquerors managed only 255 yards of total offense — and more than half of their production came from running back Lole Tapasa.
Tapasa was one of the few bright spots for Kentwood, collecting 133 rushing yards on 28 carries. Ten of his carries were for 5 or more yards. He averaged 4.8 yards per attempt.
“We know that he’s a dude,” Kentwood coach Mike Bush said. “He runs hard. … We just felt like we could get him the ball and he’d get us some positive yards.”
Tapasa also had 140 yards on the ground and a pair of scores in a win over Federal Way last week.
5. Who is next up at quarterback for Kennedy Catholic?
That would be 6-foot, 165-pound sophomore Mason Hayes, who took control of Kennedy’s offense when Huard left the game in the fourth quarter.
Moments after Huard returned to the Lancers sideline, Hayes opened a new era, completing his first career touchdown pass on a 6-yard toss to freshman Isaac Syph.
“Mason is smart and savvy, and you can see he can move and he’s athletic,” Cross said. “We like him. … He has a little something to him.”
With Huard headed to UW, Hayes is expected to start Kennedy’s final three games against Federal Way, Kentridge and Mount Rainier.
“He’s got some big shoes to fill, and I have faith in him,” Alexander said.
