Kennedy Catholic was blanked, 47-0, in coach Joe Kenneally’s debut.

By ERIC HAMILTON

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

HERMITAGE, Pa. — The head coaching debut of Kennedy Catholic football coach Joe Kenneally is one that he’d like to forget.

But after watching his squad fall 47-0 to Linesville on Saturday, Kenneally told his team to remember the outcome and learn something from it.

“I want you to go home and think and think and think about what happened today,” he told his players. “Remember how bad this feels, because you never want to be on this side of a game like this again. You can learn more from losing than winning.”

The Golden Eagles’ season began with a thud as Linesville scored on three plays longer than 70 yards and returned an interception and a punt for scores to rout Kennedy (0-1).

The Lions were led by four touchdowns from junior Doug Farley, who scored three times on the ground and once via a 71-yard punt return. Linesville ran just 12 offensive plays in the first half, but still built a 32-0 lead.

Offense is flat

“They jumped out on us early and we came out flat,” said Kenneally, whose squad could muster only 65 yards rushing on 32 carries. “We knew where to attack them, but we didn’t execute. If we could stop their dive option and force them to pass, we would have had a chance, but we couldn’t stop it.”

Linesville (2-0) rushed for 228 yards, led by 150 from Farley. Doug Williams added 109 yards. 

In addition to the interception and punt return. Linesville scored three offensive touchdowns in the first half. Williams’ 75-yard TD run gave the Lions a 27-0 lead after having run just four offensive plays and holding the ball for only 1 minute, 9 seconds.

With 8:42 remaining in the third quarter, Williams scored again to pad the advantage to 40-0 and institute a running clock for the rest of the game.

Kennedy’s biggest scoring threat came early in the fourth quarter, as the Eagles drove to the Linesville 16. But on fourth-and-5, the Lions’ salvaged the shutout with an interception.