It can be hard to translate regular season success to the playoffs, but Kennedy had no problem doing just that on Friday. Everything went their way against the Righetti Warriors as they made off with a 56-32 win. The Thunderbirds might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won seven games by 21 points or more this season.
Jace Demacabalin was his usual excellent self, rushing for 270 yards and four touchdowns while picking up 10.0 yards per carry. Those 270 rushing yards gave him a new career-high. Another rusher making a difference was Jamison Membreve, who rushed for 115 yards and three touchdowns on only ten carries.
Kennedy was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 435 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 167 rushing yards in 24 consecutive matches dating back to last season.
On the defensive side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Kennedy's defensive line and their four sacks. In that department, Alejandro Ramoz was the leader with two. He also set a new season high mark in total tackles with seven. Kennedy got some further help from Julian Zaragoza: he picked up a sack, forced a fumble, and made seven total tackles (3.0 for loss).
Righetti lost despite a true team effort on the offense, the best among them being Nicholas Matautia, who threw for 197 yards and three touchdowns on only 17 passes. Matautia is becoming a predictor of Righetti's success: when he posts at least three passing touchdowns the team is 6-2 (and 1-2 when he doesn't). Braedan Amba also helped with two touchdowns in total.
Kennedy has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won eight of their last nine contests, which provided a nice bump to their 8-4 record this season. Those victories were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 45.0 points per game. As for Righetti, their defeat dropped their record down to 7-4.
Kennedy will take on Madera at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Kennedy is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 31.7 points per game this season. Righetti does not have any more games scheduled as of now.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
