Kennedy conquers Sharpsville

Coach Mike Donato gave Lee Plotts and Jason Wolinsky high praise.
By BILL ALBRIGHT
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
SLIPPERY ROCK -- In the third week of the regular season, Kennedy Catholic and Sharpsville battled to a 14-14 tie in regulation before Kennedy squeaked out a 21-20 overtime win.
In the rematch Friday night in the District 10 Class A title game, Kennedy (9-2) scored early and often in dumping the Blue Devils, 34-12.
Kennedy (9-2) will meet the winner of tonight's PIAA playoff game between Coudersport and Clarion at 6 p.m. Friday at Clarion University's Memorial Stadium.
Jump-start
"We were hoping to get a little jump-start tonight, get ahead and then go from there," said Kennedy coach Mike Donato. "There were some things I wanted to see how they were playing us, and we caught them. The last game, we really pounded them inside, but tonight, we wanted to see if we could get the perimeter, and we did."
Junior running back Lee Plotts jump-started the Eagles with a 61-yard touchdown run on the game's third play. Plotts, who also scored on runs of 3 and 81 yards, finished with 237 yards on 16 carries.
"It was just a good job by the coaches and the seniors, and the [offensive] line blocked well, and that allowed me to what I do best," said Plotts. "We knew [Sharpsville] would be tough, so we just worked hard all week in practice and came out tonight and did what we had to do."
Donato had good things to say about his tailback.
"He runs so hard, and when you tackle Lee Plotts, you are going to get punished," said Donato. "I don't think you want to tackle him too much, especially in the third and fourth quarter."
Cornerback's career game
When Plotts wasn't busy doing his thing on offense, Kennedy cornerback Jason Wolinsky took over on defense as the sophomore had a career game with four interceptions to lead the Golden Eagle defense.
Wolinsky's second interception set up Kennedy's third touchdown. He returned his third pick for a 60-yard touchdown early in the third quarter.
"I wasn't doing anything differently tonight. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time," said Wolinsky. "The line also did an outstanding job in putting pressure on [Sharpsville quarterback P. J. O'Connor], and that allowed me to make a break on the ball."
Donato had high praise for his defensive back.
"If not our best, Jason has been one of our best defensive backs all year," said Donato. "He has been outstanding for us all year, and tonight, he was in the right place at the right time.
"He just played everything perfectly tonight, and, as a result, he was able to make some plays."
Ross Gargano completed the Kennedy scoring, going in from two yards out with nine minutes left in the game. Gargano finished with 46 yards on 10 carries. He also caught two passes from quarterback Lee Sham for 37 yards.
For Sharpsville (10-2) , Ian Brown and Ryan Morris scored touchdowns. Brown had a 9-yard TD run midway through the second quarter before Morris went in from 4 yards out with 50 seconds left in the game.