PREP FOOTBALL 2016: Physical Kennedy Titans manhandle Trojans, 49-3

Titans from Fremont brave treacherous trek from the East Bay, and are rewarded with a dominating 49-3 victory over Petaluma.|

There is usually some light in the darkest of storms. It was there for the Petaluma High School football team last Friday night, but it was awfully difficult to see the light through the hurricane of hurt put on the Trojans by Kennedy’s physical Titans.

The Titans from Fremont braved the treacherous trek from the East Bay, and were rewarded with a dominating 49-3 victory over Petaluma at Steve Ellison Field. The win was the fourth without a loss for the Titans.

On the flip side, the loss was the third without a win for the Trojans.

There just wasn’t a lot of positives for the experienced-challenged Petalumans, who not only lost the game, but two more starting players from an already injury-depleted lineup in the process. By the end of the game, the Trojans were down to the third center on their depth chart.

The biggest positive for Petaluma was the players’ attitude. Despite their continued troubles, the players remained upbeat after the game.

“We’ve played some very physical teams.” Petaluma head coach Rick Krist pointed out. “But the kids are still playing hard. Our biggest goal is to keep the game fun.”

Petaluma did continue to show flashes of the offensive team it would like to become, rushing for 154 yards and totaling 230 for the game. Not a lot, but not totally meager against the tough Kennedy defense.

The problem was that Petaluma ripped off three or four yards at a time, and couldn’t sustain drives at that rate.

“We are nickel and diming. I would like to see some quarters and half dollars once in a while,” Krist said.

Kennedy not only had an abundance of quarter and half-dollar runs, but tossed in a couple of silver-dollar plays as well.

The Titans rushed for 230 yards and passed for 178 more. Worse from the Trojan standpoint, they seemed to have a knack of coming up with the big play when it was most needed, going 5-for-7 on third-down conversions and adding a fourth-down conversion as well.

The tone for the game was set in Petaluma’s first series as it ran from its 15 to the Kennedy 45, with Dominic Christobal zipping off a quarter-sized 23-yard blast in the process.

However, that is where the Petaluma march ended, and Kennedy drove right back to score on a 2-yard run by Darius Moses.

Petaluma was just three plays into its second possession when Nicholas Palmer picked off a pass and returned it 28 yards for a defensive touchdown.

Three plays and a punt gave the ball back to Kennedy.

One play and a 67-yard run by Aman Jackson gave the ball right back to Petaluma, but on a kickoff.

Jackson’s touchdown run gave Kennedy a 21-0 lead, and the contest, if not the game, was over.

Petaluma put together another 3-, 4-, 5-yard march late in the second quarter, going from its 36 to the Kennedy 11 before a fumble stopped progress.

By the half, it was 28-0, and it got only got marginally better when Thomas De Jong booted a 24-yard field goal to give the Trojans their only points mid-way through the third period.

Aside from the field goal, Petaluma was never able to establish much offensively in the second half, while the Titans tacked on three more touchdowns, one on their second pass interception touchdown runback of the game.

Defensively, Robert Miller, Jacob Rolistin, Dominic Ayers and Daniel DeCarli were among the most notable of the Trojans, while Christobal blocked a Kennedy PAT attempt.

Fullback Connor Richardson led the Petaluma ball carriers with 82 yards on a workhorse 20 carries.

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