Lake Balboa, CA – It was a Friday night under the cold, damp, rainy skies in Lake Balboa, but it felt like anywhere else this time of year but here. Not even short outbursts of rain, however, would dampen the excitement for this quarterfinal round of the CIF City Section Open Division football playoffs between Birmingham Patriots and Kennedy Cougars.

There was a lot at stake. Kennedy’s strong season resulted in their first appearance in Open Division. The last time the Cougars won on this same field at Birmingham was three years ago when they captured the D2 championship. But that’s old news. This night was about making a statement that Kennedy belongs.

A seven o’clock start saw Kennedy kick the ball off first, Birmingham retrieved it and brought the ball down to the 40-yard line. The drive stalled and both team’s defenses were on top of it in the first quarter. After several drives by both sides, the early standouts were clear for the Cougars as Leland Melendez, Kevin Gatewood and Abel Arce each had a tackle along with the Patriots’ Ray Worthen. Arce also had a sack. Cougars quarterback Diego Montes got his team within range of a field goal, but a shot at the end zone fell incomplete, and the kick attempt missed as well. And at the end of the first quarter, the score was 0-0.

The game saw more offensive action in the second quarter. Right away, Birmingham’s quarterback, senior Kevin Hawkins, threw long to wide receiver Paul Turner, and the result was first down and goal to go. A false start penalty would set them back five yards. This was the second of many penalties which would plague Birmingham throughout the night. Hawkins threw once again, this time to junior Braylen Morgan for the first touchdown of the game. The extra point by Diloretto put Birmingham on the board, 7-0.

It was Kennedy’s turn to make a push but two penalties and then a fumble that was recovered by Patriots’ Matthias Quin, would result in a second touchdown for Birmingham and a 14-0 score following a successful extra point. A tackle and sack by Kennedy’s Matthew Quintanilla and a late-in-the-half interception by Steven Gatica, helped keep the score at 14-0 heading into halftime.

The cold and rain persisted through the intermission and into the second half, but a scoreless Cougars team did not.

Kennedy got off to a quick start at kick-off running the ball to the 45-yard-line and later in the drive, Montes produced a rushing touchdown. Francisco Ceja kicked for the extra point and the Cougars had arrived,14-7. Every drive in the game thereafter would result in a touchdown.

As quickly as Kennedy was to score this half, Birmingham was equally as eager to not let them get much closer. Enter Birmingham’s Dallas Jones. He’d been in the game, but from this point on he was making an impression as Hawkins would find him on almost every possession.

On the very drive following the Cougars opening score, Hawkins would hand-off to Jones for a first down. The next play, same thing, with Jones running for 20 yards for another first down. Jones would end up running the ball into the end zone for another touchdown, 21-7.

“Mainly all glory to the O line,” said Jones. “And you know, also to the people who don’t get glory is the scout team, the scout team we have during the week, at practice too. They do really well to prep us and everything. So I’m nothing without them.”

On the other side, Montes would find Ceja (also a wide receiver) twice in the next drive for pass completions, the second of which resulted in a first and goal at the eight-yard line. Quintanilla ran it in for Kennedy’s second touchdown. The extra point was completed, making the score 21-14.

Each team would score one more touchdown before the third quarter was over. Jones would again be integral in getting the ball to the 10-yard-line and then in the end zone for another Patriots touchdown, 28-14. Montes ran it in for Kennedy but this time, the extra point was blocked by Jimmy Renteria to make the score 28-20. With 18 seconds left in the third,  Turner took the ensuing kickoff and returned it for a touchdown ending the quarter with Birmingham ahead 35-20.

In the fourth quarter, The Patriots would hold Kennedy to just the 20 points they had already scored and Birmingham would go on to add two more touchdowns, finalizing the score at 48-20.

“But, you know, it’s playoff football, they scored a couple of times. They had the answers. They came back in, but they couldn’t knock us out. 
You got to knock out the champ,” reveled Rose after the victory.

Birmingham goes on to play their semi-final on Friday, 11/21 at 7:00 p.m. against Crenshaw.