Team

Warren JFK

Record	Div.	Conf.
3/6	Div. VII	North Coast League

By Steve Ruman

sports@vindy.com

WARREN

In football, it is often suggested that offense sells tickets while defense wins championships.

It remains to be seen just how far into the playoffs the Warren John F. Kennedy football team will proceed, but one thing is certain — the Eagles will sell tickets at least one more week thanks to a championship-like performance from its defense.

The Eagles on Friday night made several key defensive plays which propelled them to a 28-7 home win over Sandusky St. Mary Central Catholic. With the victory, JFK advances to a Division VII, Region 23 semifinal game against Toronto, a 49-7 winner over Mathews.

Senior quarterback Bobby Jefferson scored a pair of touchdowns for Kennedy (9-1) while junior running back Evan Boyd was a workhorse, carrying the ball 25 times for 157 yards. But it was key defensive plays by Danny McCartney, Chris Urchek and Ryan Lee that helped seal Kennedy’s first playoff win since 2007.

McCartney made the first big play of the night at the 9:02 mark of the second quarter of a scoreless game. St. Mary drove the ball down to the Kennedy 14 on eight straight running plays. On the ninth play of the drive, McCartney stepped in front of a Panthers receiver near the goal line, intercepted a pass and returned it to the JFK 23.

“Coach always says you have to read your keys and step up and make plays,” McCartney said. “I saw the receiver say something to the quarterback before the play, so I had a feeling it was coming his way.”

Kennedy took possession following the interception and drove 77 yards on 12 plays, capped by a Jefferson 6-yard touchdown run. The Eagles would take the 7-0 lead into the locker room.

In the latter stages of the third period, the Panthers were driving and looking to tie the game. However, on a fourth-and-1 from the Kennedy 38, Panthers quarterback Hayden Snow was stopped at the line of scrimmage by Urchek.

“This kind of stuff has been going on all year with us,” said Kennedy coach Jeff Bayuk. “It takes us awhile to figure things out, and we give up yardage. But we are really stingy in the red zone. Our kids have shown a lot of resiliency all year long.”

This time after a defensive stand, the Eagles needed just six plays to score — the points coming on a Ross Nocera 13-yard run.

Down 14-0, St. Mary answered thanks to a 72-yard hook-and-ladder play. Snow threw a short pass to Chase Fetter, who quickly lateraled to Trenton Zimmerman. The senior tight end raced down the sidelines to cut the Panthers’ deficit to 14-7.

“The crazy thing is, we practiced for that all week,” Bayuk said. “They’ve run the play a number of times this year in key situations. We were ready for it, but they run it so good they still got us.”

Kennedy responded with a time-consuming drive, capped by a Jefferson 11-yard run that gave the Eagles a 21-7 lead with 4:50 left in the game. Lee then sealed the win with a 23-yard interception return for a touchdown.

St. Mary averaged 39 points per game this year.

“We went up against a team tonight that isn’t your average number eight seed,” Bayuk said. “We knew we were going to be a ball game. We played great defensively, and on offense our line did a tremendous job to allow us to run up the middle.”

Kennedy and Toronto will meet Friday at a site to be determined.