By Ed Shepherd
SPORTS ROUNDUP

Kennedy's good, and getting better and better and better.
Time will tell if the Lancers are their best ever this season, having gone so far as losing to Bellevue, 21-14, in the 3A state championship in 2006 and having lost to 2005 state champ, Ferndale, the year before that, in the semifinals of the state playoffs.

So, that said now that Highline's out of the way, the Lancers having crushed the Pirates homecoming game win hopes, 42-0, Friday night at Highline Memorial Field, arch-rival Lindbergh is in town, next, for the Lancers.

Kennedy improved to 2-0 in the Seamount, 4-0 overall while Highline dropped to 0-2 in Seamount play and 1-3 overall. To note, Highline's win over Nathan Hale was a decent one, considering the team Highline plays next Friday, Evergreen, at 7 p.m., at Highline Memorial, lost to the Red Raiders already this season.

So Lindbergh awaits the Lancers.

"Good football team," said Lancers head coach Bob Bourgette, in his 20th season, having won 17 of the past 19 Seamount League crowns, starting off this season. "We have ultimate respect for them."

Kennedy is still the dominant team of Seamount football the past two decades, no one's taking that honor away from them, not even if the Eagles were to beat the Lancers Friday night in a game that starts at 5 p.m. at Highline Memorial Field.

But, certainly, Lindbergh's been stealing a little bit of that Lancers' two-decade-long notoriety, in the last five years. The Eagles won the Seamount in 2009 and, also, last year, in 2013. With last year, the game between Kennedy and Lindbergh, that decided the Seamount champs, just as was the case in 2009, and, will, likely, be the case in 2014, as Hazen could challenge, too.

Lindbergh won last year's clash, 38-14, against the Lancers.

"We get them again," said Bourgette. "Another shot at these guys."
And, the Lancers sights are set on beating Lindbergh and a whole lot of other teams in what hopes to be a very long season ending in with something the school's never grabbed: the 3A state championship trophy.
"We are doing really well," said Jacob Thurber, the Lancers senior quarterback, who threw for a score and ran for one, against the Pirates. "We are getting better every week in practice. We are a great team. We know we are going to go far."

Already, Kennedy avenged last year's loss to Seattle Prep in the first round of the 3A state playoffs last November, having now beaten the Panthers, 18-3, in a non-league game played Sept. 12 at Seattle Memorial Stadium.

So, the Highline game was what?

"Sloppy," he said. "I thought our kids played really hard out there. We made some mistakes, committed too many turnovers. We will take care of it."

Admittedly, Bourgette's team may have been looking down the line before this game even began. It was a big game for Highline because it was the school's homecoming game, and all with a packed house of fans in the stands, with Kennedy's side pretty full, too.

"Always happy to win," said Bourgette. "And, our guys may have been looking over this game, too, some, to Lindbergh."

Highline homecoming, too, playing in front of a large bunch of fans? That hype play into things, too?
"Yeah, that, too," said Bourgette.

The Lancers did not play like anything, or anyone, but Highline was in front of them to start the game. Kennedy scored a touchdown on it's first three possessions.

But, the Lancers' first score came after the Pirates' first possession of the game. The Pirates got a nice run from Monty Rainwater of 15 yards that was called back from a blocking penalty, so, that set the momentum against the Pirates and gave 'mo' to the Lancers. From there, the Pirates' watched Lancers linebacker James Merrill sack Kyle Tief for a 9-yard loss on first and 15 and the ball on the 30 yard line. Merrill would record three sacks in this game before the game even got out of the first quarter.

"James helped set the tone, did a great job for us," said Bourgette.
Then, on fourth down, a couple plays later, the PIrates' offense having gone nowhere fast in three plays, including a Kennedy encroachment call in the mix, to explain a little of that sloppiness Bourgette referred to earlier, punted the ball. But, it was blocked by a bunch of Lancers penetrating up the middle, giving the Lancers the ball at the Pirates' 26-yard line.

With 9:00 left in the first quarter, then, it was Lancers' senior, 6-0, 225 running back, Junior Ngaumao, running for six yards, making it second down and four at the 20-yard line.

Then Lancers' quarterback, Thurber, kept the ball on a keeper play, for no gain. So, third and four from the 20. And sophomore Keannu Royster, 5-9, 160, went 12 yards to set up a first and goal from the 8-yard line.
Ngaumu ran it in, and, Marco Calderon made the point-after, so it was 7-0 Lancers with 7:36 showing on the scoreboard clock.

After the Pirates went three and out on their second possession of the game, including a second Merrill sack of the game in that series, and a fake punt on fourth down and 27 ran by Rainwater that got 13 yards when 14 more were needed for a first down, the Lancers got the ball back on their own 16-yard line.

Of the fake punt and other good stops Kennedy did on third and fourth downs, Pirates coach Asoso Sahialii said, "Hats off to Kennedy. They did a great job adjusting to us."

So, on first and 10, from the 16, with 5:33 left in the first quarter, Thurber threw an incomplete pass first down before floating a touch pass perfectly into the left corner of the end zone, over the Pirates' defensive backs' head for senior, 6-3, 205, AJ McGrew to catch, without even having to leave his feet for the ball. Thurber called out to McGrew's athleticism even though it wasn't needed to jump on that play.
"He's an athlete, great wide receiver," said Thurber.

That two play, 16-yard drive, taking 44 seconds time of possession, made it 14-0 Lancers after Calderon's PAT.

But, the Pirates, despite the lopsided final score, really did control the ball a lot this game, in fact, having it for 26 minutes to the Lancers 22, and on its fourth possesson of the game, Sahialii's team nearly broke through. But, that's getting ahead of things.

First, after Highline's third possession went nowhere on nine plays in four minutes, starting at its 20 and ending at its 21, the Lancers earned possession, again, after a nice 45 yard punt from Rainwater, setting up the Lancers' back at their own 34-yard line on first and 10. On it after a Thurber incomplete pass, and on second down, a Harrison three-yard loss from a nice tackle by Sam Houghtby in the backfield, the first quarter came to an end.

Starting the second quarter, some more of that sloppy play came about with a fumble on third and 13 by the Lancers. But then Ngaumao ran for 15 yards on 1 and 10 from the 38. So, on second and 10, the Pirates got 5-7 205 Dartanian Henry with a 1-yard loss carrying the ball. And, on third and 11, the Lancers got backed up five yards on a penalty, so, on third and 16, an incomplete pass made it fourth down and 16 for the Lancers, with 9:34 on the clock.

That's where Thurber showed he's more than just a 6-4, 180 passer, weaving around the Pirates' defense, on Bourgette's fourth down gamble, for a touchdown of 29 yards.

"Jake," said Bourgette, face creasing, opening up to a smile. "He gets better every game. Better and better and better. He plays baseball, got a great arm. But people don't realize he's tall but very elusive, like a running back. He's very fast, too."

Thurber liked the run he made for a TD, but he didn't like it alone.
"I ran right behind my strong line," said Thurber, who found the seams and ran into daylight through the Pirates' secondary and to the promised land.

So, up three touchdowns a third of the way through the second quarter on that 7-play, 66 yard drive, elapsing 4:07 in time, the Lancers led, 21-0.

But, were the Pirates done, and all their fans, watching the game and also waiting for the marching band to play joyfully at halftime under director Scott Babcock? And watch the cheerleaders and dance team numbers, done watching this game? And, homecoming proceedings? No.
In fact, the overwhelming majority of Pirates' fans stayed throughout this game from beginning to end, despite the more and more lopsidedness of the score as the game wore on.

"We have a great crowd," said Tief, the Pirates' quarterback. "Great fans. They stayed through the whole game."

And so, the Pirates, with the ball after Rainwater put his team in a good field position with a 44-yard kickoff return, Teif hit AJ Sahialii with a six yard pass, with 9:14 left in, still, the second quarter, and, this game, definitely, not a runaway yet. Then, Tief's quarterback keeper made for five yards on second and four from the Lancers' 30 yard line, to give the Pirates a first down at the foe's 25-yard line.

Definitely not done yet on this drive, Tief put a ball into the end zone and pass interference was the call by the referee. So, with 8:20 left in the second, the Pirates were with a first and 10 at the Lancers' 10.
Then, a penalty backed them up five yards, and a pass to Sahialii by Tief perfectly thrown got 16 yards. So, first and goal, from the 2-yard line for the Pirates!

And, that's where the Pirates just didn't get by the Lancers as Tief's keeper went backwards as the Lancers defensive line gang-sacked him back at the 10-yard line for a 8-yard loss.

"I could have done better," said Tief. "I feel like I let my team down. I couldn't find the hole, got wrapped up and slammed down.. I took my helmet off, trying to get air, because I couldn't breath."
Kennedy good defense?

"Yeah," said Tief. "But, game's mental and all about heart. And once we figure that out, we will be unbeatable."

So, yes, don't think a touchdown here would have made the Pirates get momentum and beat the Lancers. But, could that play have done something for this team in this game? Sure, it would have been a two-touchdown lead, with five minutes left in the second quarter still.

Pirates coach Sahialii spoke of the Lancers stuffing Tief's run, for the sack and big loss at this critical juncture in the game for his team getting back in it, or, not.

"That was Kennedy, they did a great job of adjustment of what we were running," said Sahialii. "And we made some critical mistakes."
The very next play was tough to stomach, and, breathe in, for Pirates fans, as Tief was out of the game, trying to catch his breath, and a high snap going through the fill-in QB's fingers put the Pirates at third and 27. Tief's bomb into the endzone on fourth down went incomplete.

But, this type of effort here is what Sahialii liked, the team holding the ball for five and a half minutes, running 12 plays. And, just not getting any fortunate luck, along with getting outdone there by what looks to be a pretty awesome football team, in the Lancers, potentially, by this season's end.

"Just need to polish up what we are doing, we will be fine," said Sahialii, who coaches with Michael Haley, Lewis Kendall, Chris Bowen and Kevin Tessandore.

The Lancers put this game in the books, pretty much, before halftime homecoming activities commenced for the Pirates, with it's next score just 58 seconds after the Pirates' imploded with a chance to score from the Lancers' 2-yard line. Ngaumao ran the ball in from 2 yards capping that one with 4:57 on the clock after Calderon's PAT, 28-0. Another score just before halftime for the Lancers and then one more with 11:08 left in the third quarter made it, 42-0, as Harrison ran off 77 yards into the end zone.

But, the Pirates played this game with heart and effort and, even in the second half, were still trying, getting a Tief to Rainwater 24-yard pass before Lancers defensive end, senior, 6-1 235 Sebastian Ferraro recorded a sack. He's a player, incidentally, who's been injured and Bourgette mentioned is good to have back on the field.

And, that said, too, Tief took a lot of hits, got sacked by Merrill, Ferraro, others, in this game, and, kept getting up, even when he got body-slammed to the turf and couldn't breathe, he bounced up.

"I took a couple head hits," said Tief, when Coach Sahialii asked him how he was doing in the locker room after the game. "I'll be OK."

Sahialii liked Tief's effort, a 10-for-18 passing effort for 80 yards.
"When things get rough, way to hang in there," said Sahialii, in the coach's room.

"Way to hang in there, you're getting tougher and tougher each game," said Haley, defensive backs and running backs coach, getting up from his chair and hugging Tief in the room.

Rainwater gave a good effort out there, nearly broke for a long run or two, and, did have a couple nice returns and catches too from Tief.
"It was just hard hard," said Rainwater. "We just got to learn to pull through more, no matter how good the other team is. Kyle played hard. He always plays hard, no matter how many times he gets hit."

Just have to learn to pull through as a team, sounds like Rainwater's saying.

So, the Pirates were with some good hits sustained against the Lancers and also hustle plays that resulted in bad news like Jayden Sadettan, gonig for a fumble in the third quarter the Pirates caused, already down 42-0 and not giving up, that says. But, Sadettan hurt his finger on the play, sprained it, going for the loose ball, recovered by Houghtby with six minutes left in the third quarter.

"He's a great kid," said Sahialii. "He's a senior, first-year player, playing football. A lot of learning still on this team."

After the game, the Lancers did a long prayer in concert, with its coaches, and, players, and , cheerleaders kneeling, at midfield, and, the Pirates response to the game afterward was fruitful too. The players did shout-outs to each other, saying good things about their play Their seemed no despondent looks, or, anything of frustration shown, just Pirates players kneeling, saying 'Yes, coach,' when Sahialii spoke.

Sahialii said practice was going to be on Saturday at 10 am. Be there or don't bother showing up after that, he said in so many words, trying to instill some discipline in his team, some experience, really.

And, in the locker room following that talk on the field after the game, a player came into the coach's room to speak to Sahialii.

"Coach, I have to work tomorrow," he said, eyes drooping.
Sahialii replied, "You have to work."

Yeah," said the player, who was Rully Edwin-Johnson.
"You have to work tomorrow," said Sahialii, questioning his player one more time.

"Yeah," said Edwin-Johnson.

"OK, thank you for letting me know," said Sahailii. "That's what we call communication."

So, the players seem to be getting it, that Sahailii wants them out there, in games, at practices, no matter what, but, he also understands that communication is of the utmost and that word, "communication" may, ultimatey, decide the Pirates having a good season from here on out, or not. Together as a team, for sure, but, also, perhaps, they can start winning, too, if they believe.

"He works hard," said Tief, speaking of coach Sahialii. "He definitely can change a team into a great program. Once we believe, we will be one."

The Pirates play next Friday at 7 p.m. against Evergreen, in it's homecoming game, at Highline Memorial Field