One strong half of play wasn’t enough to extended Kennedy’s winning streak to three.
The Knights trailed unbeaten South Shore by just one score at the half, but never got closer after the break. It left them having to digest a, 35-13, road defeat in PSAL City conference football last Friday night. Kennedy was outscored 21-7 in the second half.
“We are a young team,” Knights coach Andy Lancberg said. “We will figure it out that there are four quarters in a game. I love the fight in the boys.”
His team actually jumped ahead by scoring on its opening drive with help from a 56-yard run on the first play from scrimmage. Anthony Williams capped the march with a 10-yard touchdown run to make it 6-0. South Shore immediately answered with a 26-yard touchdown pass from Jason Martin to Michael Waston to take a 7-6 lead with 6:50 to play in the first quarter. Martin completed 11 of 19 passes for 212 yards and two touchdowns.
Kennedy trailed just 14-6 going into the break, but saw South Shore (7-0) score to start the third quarter and never looked back. The Knights (2-5) didn’t help themselves after that. They saw a promising drive stall at the South Shore 32-yard line after penalities moved then backward from the 15.
“They were detrimental,” Williams said of the flags. “They just stopped everything. We seemed like we were going to score. They called a 15 yard score and we were going backwards.”
Kennedy did find the end zone again in the closing minutes when quarterback P.J. Franklyn scampered into the end zone from 27 yard out. The Knights began using their passing game more by getting Rodney Atkins the ball on the outside. There was some bright spots in defeat the Lancberg wants to see his team grow from.
“I hate to lose, but I like where the program is going we are going to build out of that,” he said.
He and his players haven’t given up on the present either. The Knights can still makes the playoffs, but it will likely require them to win out, including a rivalry game against DeWitt Clinton at home on Oct. 31.
“I feel it in my heart, we are still a playoff team,” Williams said. “These next three games are just must win games. We are going to win theses games”
