Kardinals pile points on Hawks

KENAI — One of Kenai Central’s goals entering its game against Houston on Saturday afternoon was to return a kick for a touchdown.

The Kardinals checked that off the list just 16 seconds into the game.

From there, it was all academic.

Senior Billy Kiefer scored five touchdowns, including one on the opening kickoff, Joe Sandahl added three scores and Kenai limited the Hawks to 25 yards of total offense during a 71-0 rout in the two teams’ Northern Lights Conference opener at Kenai Central.

“It started with the opening kickoff. What a great way to start the football game,” said Kenai volunteer assistant and media liaison Jim Beeson. “It was nice to get that (goal) out of the way right away. It was a huge hole. All he had to do was run.”

It was like that most of the day.

After losing 18 players from last year’s squad that qualified for the playoffs, Houston (0-2 overall, 0-1 NLC) is struggling to mount an offensive attack so far this season, losing 57-0 to Eagle River last week before being blanked again by the Kardinals.

“We lost 18 good football players and because of that we didn’t have a lot of experience on the varsity level,” said Hawks coach Norm Bouchard, adding 32 of his 42 players are freshmen and sophomores. “Basically we’re a brand new program. If this was any other year we would probably be playing JV football if we were starting a program. We’re not going to do that.

“We learn every week, do the best we can with our kids and then next year when they’re competitive or even, then we’re going to go toe-to-toe with them,” he added. “And the year after we’re going to start beating them and then they’ll get their payback when those games come around. That’s all we can do.”

While the Hawks still haven’t found the end zone, the Kardinals (2-0, 1-0) have yet to allow an opponent to reach pay dirt in winning their first two games by an aggregate 118-0.

On Saturday, Kenai’s defense forced five punts, one traveling only one yard and another totaling minus-5, allowed just four first downs, recovered a fumble and recorded a safety late in the second quarter, by which time the lead was already insurmountable.

“We’re more of a defensive team first and then offense. We put more energy into that. You can tell with the kids, they’re more excited about playing defense,” Beeson said. “It was pretty much our second group that was out there in the second half and we didn’t really miss a beat. The kids played hard and they got after it and it’s good to see. Hopefully we can continue to build on that.”

Kenai’s offense wasn’t too shabby, either, scoring on its first seven possessions in ballooning the lead to 58-0 at the half.

Following Kiefer’s 77-yard kickoff return to commence play, sophomore quarterback AJ Hull — who tossed four touchdowns against Lathrop last week and followed that up with a 5-for-9. 126-yard performance on Saturday — hooked up with Bryson Lowe down the right sideline for a 44-yard gain and two plays later the shifty QB scampered around the left end for a 15-yard score.

The Kardinals scored on the first play of their second offensive possession when Hull connected with Kiefer on a 30-yard scoring strike. Kiefer later added touchdown runs of 8, 5 and 5 yards, Nick Rouswell dove in from one yard out and Sandahl took a lateral from Hull, who had already run for roughly 20 yards on the play, and walked the final few yards into the end zone with 1:29 left in the first half.

“Our line did an amazing job. It was all them. I wouldn’t have done anything without them. I give them all the credit,” Kiefer said. “They’re the go-to guys. They’re the guys that get us the yards and AJ the passing yards and touchdowns. It’s all about them.”

With the clock running the entire second half, Kenai capitalized off a Rouswell interception when Sandahl rushed for a 6-yard touchdown and the sophomore JV running back added his third score of the afternoon on a 5-yard run with 8:14 to play.

“We knew this was a good football team,” Bouchard said. “We had no grandiose ideas that we were going to come in here and knock off the No. 2 team in the small schools. We knew that wasn’t going to happen.

“If we get lucky enough and we improve enough, we can slide into that last playoff spot. That’s all we’re fighting for now is learning and trying to get better.”

The Kardinals have more than that on their mind right now.

“We’ll find out really how good we are next weekend because Scott Anderson out in Nikiski does a fabulous job out there,” Beeson added of continuing their shutout streak. “If we can go out and shut those guys down, then really we’ve got something going on when you can do that.

“When you can shut Nikiski out or slow them down at all, you’re doing a pretty good job.”

Matthew Carroll can be reached at matthew.carroll@peninsulaclarion.com.

Kardinals 71, Hawks 0

First quarter

Kenai — Kiefer 77 kick return (Sutton kick), 11:44

Kenai — Hull 15 run (Hull to Rouswell), 7:37

Kenai — Kiefer 30 pass from Hull (Sutton kick), 5:55

Kenai — Kiefer 8 run (Sutton kick), 2:54

Second quarter

Kenai — Rouswell 1 run (Sutton kick), 10:31

Kenai — Kiefer 5 run (kick failed), 7:42

Kenai — Kiefer 5 run (Sutton kick), 3:40

Kenai — Safety, 2:34

Kenai — Sandahl 23 run (Sutton kick), 1:29

Third quarter

Kenai — Sandahl 6 run (Sutton kick), 4:16

Fourth quarter

Kenai — Sandahl 5 run (pass failed), 8:14

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing — Houston: Dukes 14-23, Ch. Buzby 1-6, Qual 7-(-30), Frank 3-(-28), Barron 1-(-2), Richardson 1-(-2). Kenai: Sandahl 10-65, Kiefer 7-57, Hull 3-38, Rouswell 3-4, Hayes 5-10, Flynn 1-6, Carlson 1-0.

Passing — Houston: Qual 7-11-1-34, Frank 4-8-1-24. Kenai: Hull 5-9-0-126.

Receiving — Houston: Barron 4-25, Co. Buzby 2-24, Richardson 2-5, Lapham 1-9, Dukes 2-(-5). Kenai: Hermann 2-39, Lowe 1-44, Kiefer 1-30, Rodriguez 1-13