Cats eliminate last serious district challenger …
In District 7-4A play Friday night, the AP #7 Kennedale Wildcats (7-1, 3-0) essentially wrapped another district title when they rolled over Mineral Wells (4-4, 1-2) by a score of 62-21 at Wildcat Stadium. {{more: continue … }}
First grade students from Patterson and Delaney Elementary were on hand to help the KHS Cheerleaders bring on the
Wildcats Friday night (
Photo:Staci Otts)
The Cats do have two games left in district play starting with a trip to Castleberry (1-7, 1-2) next week and then hosting Lake Worth (2-6, 2-1) the following week. Both games are at &7:30 p.m. Kennedale is the only undefeated team remaining in district play.
Jaden Knowles (Sr) with the Cats? first touchdown behind the blocking of Andrew Flanigan (Sr) (
Photo:Staci Otts)
How the game got away from the Rams …
Mineral Wells was stunned by the Wildcats in the opening moments in the game when Kennedale took a 27-0 lead in what seemed a blink of an eye. The Wildcats scored twenty-seven points before the Cats?s offense had even run 8 plays.
How was that possible? It was a collaborative effort by the offense and defense.
- First, it started with the Cats taking the first possession of the game the length field in four plays and scoring on senior running back Jaden Knowles? 10 yard run. (Knowles finish the night with 129 yards and 4 touchdowns.) The score was 6-0 after a two point conversion failed.
- Second, the Wildcat defense stepped up. With the Rams on their first possession of the game successfully driving down the field into scoring range at the Kennedale 26, Wildcat Devan Mason recovered a Mineral Wells fumble and returned it 78 yards for a touchdown. The score was 13-0 with the PAT good.
- Third, and just three plays later, Wildcat defensive back Mayfield Hayes picked up a dropped ball by the Rams’ QB and trotted 9 yards to the endzone for the Cats 3rd touchdown. The PAT kick was good and Kennedale led 20-0.
- Fourth, after the Wildcat defense forced a Ram punt on a 4 & 21 at MW 32, the Cats offense promptly scored in three plays on senior running back DJ Kiven?s 6 yard run. (Kirven finished the game with 223 yards and 2 touchdowns.) The key to that drive was junior quarterback Evan Jowers? 50 yard run moving the ball from the KD 29 to the MW 21. The score was 27-0.
DJ Kirven (Jr) cutting behind Nathan Otts (Sr) for one of two touchdowns on the night (
Photo:Staci Otts)A reeling Mineral Wells team never recovered from that blitz. They wouldn?t get their first score until after Kennedale scored another touchdown at the beginning of the 2nd quarter, making it 34-0. Mineral Wells had
12 drives of those 12, the Rams scored three touchdowns, fumbled twice, threw an interception and punted 5 times.
JD Coffey (Fr) picks off an interception Friday night (
Photo:Staci Otts)Kennedale, by contrast, had 9 offensive drives, scored 7 times, turned the ball over on downs once and punted just once. Kennedale offensively would finish the game with 525 yards of offense, 473 on the ground and 52 in the air.
Mineral Wells did have some sustained drives and a number of big plays. The Rams finished with a total of 348 yards, only Wichita Falls Rider had more this year (364 yds) against Kennedale. Mineral Wells made the majority of the yardage by passing for 232 yards, going 10 for 20 (1 Int). Kennedale was able to slow the running game of Khalil Thompson who finished with 75 yards and 1 touchdown.For the Rams, it was D?ija Kennedy that came up big. He finished the game with 5 receptions totaling 131 yards and 2 touchdowns. Mineral Wells went on to score a touchdown in each of the last three quarters, but they were only able to stopped the Cats three times – on a 4 & 3 play in the third quarter; a recovered Kennedale fumble on a punt return; and, a forced a punt by the Cats late in the 4th.Stat Comparison
Mineral Wells Varsity vs Kennedale Varsity
- First Downs: 16, 23
- First Downs: (by Rush – Pass – Penalty) 6-8-2, 19-3-1
- Rushing Yards: 116, 473
- Passing: (Completions – Attempts) 10 / 22, 6 / 8
- Passing Yards: 232, 52
- Passing: (Touchdowns – Interceptions) 2 / 1, 0 / 0
- Total Plays: 55, 43
- Total Offense: 348, 525
- Fumbles – Lost: 3 / 3, 2 / 1
- Penalties – Yards: 9 / 72, 9 / 90
- Time of Possession – 26:55, 21:05
- Punts – Average: 6 / 36.0, 1 / 38.0
Defensive leaders – Kennedale …
The defense did give up a lot of yard but they compensated by scoring 2 touchdowns, throwing the Rams for a loss 11 times, causing and recovering 3 fumbles and getting 1 interception.
Earning the MVP for thegame on defense was senior defensive back Larry Brooks who recorded 18 tackles
and one forced fumble. Other leading defensive players were Ector Rivera (Sr) 13 tackles,
JD Coffey (Fr) 10 plus an interception, Jalen Myers (Jr) 8, Jamal Marshall (So)
7 and Avion Jenkins (Sr) 7. Devan Mason (Sr) and Mayfield Hayes (Sr) each had 4
tackles, a fumble recovery and a touchdown. Darrian Scott (Jr) had on fumble
recovery along with 2 tackles.
Offensive leaders ? Kennedale …
Evan Jowers (Jr) 5/48
yds rush, 6/8 52yds pass; David Roper (Sr)
3/49 yds rush, 1 TDs; Jaden Knowles (Sr)
12/134 yds rush, 4 TDs; DJ Kirven (Jr)
9/223 yds rush, 2 TDs; Larry Brooks (Sr)
1/21 yds rush; Jaden Smith (Jr)
5/57 yds receiving; and Kevin Tierro (Sr)
8/8 PAT
It was Pinkout Night at Wildcat Stadium in support of cancer survivors and research (
Photo:Staci Otts)
