VAN NUYS — The Kennedy train kept rolling as the Golden Cougars (6-0, 2-0) defeated the Panorama Pythons (5-2, 1-1) 35-22 in Friday night’s Valley Mission League contest to remain undefeated.

Kennedy coach Troy Cassidy knew his team was in for a battle in a tough league game on the road.

“Don’t run away from a fight tonight,” Cassidy told his team at halftime. “We’ve had a couple lopsided scores this year, and this is one of the couple times that a team’s really swung back, and I wanted us to respond.”

Kennedy jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first eight minutes of the game, sparked by a fumble by Panorama on its first drive of the game. 

On the first Golden Cougar offensive snap following the turnover, senior running back Matthew Quintanilla ripped off a 76-yard touchdown run. Following the missed extra point, Kennedy led 6-0 less than four minutes into the game.

After a Python punt on its next possession — in which a 59-yard touchdown run was wiped off the board because of a holding penalty — the Golden Cougar offense went right back to work.

Quintanilla broke a couple of tackles en route to a 39-yard run down to the Panorama 21-yard line. On the next play, junior quarterback Chaz Rodriguez found junior wide receiver Kai Montgomery on a screen pass for a 21-yard touchdown. After a successful 2-point conversion in which senior Aidyn Peeples hit senior Joshua Gonzalez on a Tebow-esque pop pass, Kennedy led 14-0 with 4:42 left in the first quarter.

It wasn’t the start the Pythons were hoping for, according to Panorama coach Adrian Beltran, “I think we came out too flat in that first quarter,” Beltran said after the game. “If we’re going to make mistakes or take a quarter off or half a quarter off, you’re not going to win games like this.”

But the Pythons were not going to just lie down, especially on homecoming night. Kennedy and Panorama traded scoreless possessions until the Pythons got on the board when junior running back Brandon Hernandez found the end zone on a 7-yard touchdown run with six seconds left in the second quarter to make it 14-7 at halftime.

The second half started with a bang when senior Jacob Andrade returned the kickoff for a touchdown. After a successful Peeples run for the 2-point conversion, Kennedy led 22-7 just 16 seconds into the third quarter.

Panorama responded, starting with the ball just past midfield on its next possession. Hernandez tore off runs of 11 and 28 yards before finishing the drive with a 10-yard touchdown plunge to pull the Pythons within striking distance at 22-14 with 10:21 left in the third quarter.

But Kennedy answered right back, scoring just 40 seconds later on two plays. With another short field after a good kickoff return, Montgomery took a 12-yard run down to the 35-yard line before Rodriguez found junior wide receiver Max Zepeda for a 35-yard touchdown on a screen pass. After the extra point, Kennedy led 29-14.

The Kennedy defense forced a punt on Panorama’s next possession, and the Golden Cougars brought out the trickery on the ensuing drive. On the first play, Kennedy ran a double pass in which Rodriguez hit senior receiver Jared Nathey on a bubble screen. Nathey then threw downfield to Zepeda, who made a leaping catch for a 43-yard gain. The Golden Cougars scored eight plays later on a quarterback sneak by Rodriguez. After the missed extra point, Kennedy led 35-14 with 1:42 left in the third quarter.

Panorama scored on the final play of the third quarter on Hernandez’s third touchdown run of the night to make it 35-22 and cap the scoring. Hernandez finished with a whopping 296 yards on 39 carries and three touchdowns for the Pythons.

It was a back-and-forth contest, a good test for Kennedy on the road in another hostile environment coming off their bye week.

“You have to play a four quarter brand of football. It can’t be very spotty like it was,” Cassidy said after the game. “But you want to show you can keep pushing and play four quarters — even with the physical style that it took. I felt like it was two physical teams clashing together.”

For the Golden Cougars, Rodriguez finished 10-of-15 passing for 137 yards and two touchdowns, while adding 23 yards on four carries and a touchdown on the ground. Quintanilla rushed for 163 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries. Montgomery had four catches for 65 yards and a touchdown, while Zepeda had three catches for 86 yards and a touchdown.

It was a learning experience for a young Python team, going toe-to-toe with the class of the Valley Mission League. For coach Beltran, the message to his kids is simple: To beat a good team like Kennedy, it’s going to take four quarters of complete football.

“They have to start believing. They have to start playing that way from the get-go. You can’t start out flat against a good team like this,” Beltran said after the game. “We have to learn from this game. It’s a playoff-like atmosphere, and we have to keep it going.”

Both teams continue league play on Friday, with Kennedy hosting Sylmar and Panorama playing at San Fernando.

All photos by Josh Garcia