San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Highlands 57, Kennedy 8
Quick take: As far as coaching debuts go, Highlands couldn’t have asked for a better performance from Chris Castillo and his Owls, who delivered a
57-8 beatdown of Kennedy on Saturday afternoon at Alamo Stadium.
Castillo said beginning his tenure with a win was crucial.
“It was important; it was extremely important,” he said. “This team hasn’t played in a full year, and then I got there, and then everything shut down after a month. So it’s been a lot of growing pains and trying to know our kids.” Highlights: Highlands wasted no time finding the end zone, scoring on its first drive with a toss play to D’Marrion Gonzales, who galloped untouched inside the right pylon for an 18-yard touchdown.
Later in the quarter, Gonzales caught a screen pass that almost hit the ground, but the junior running back made the reception anyway and sprinted into the open field for a 15-yard touchdown.
Kennedy picked up its first touchdown of the game on an inside zone run to Daniel Sanchez, who lowered his shoulder through a pair of Highlands defenders as he lunged into the end zone for a 7-yard score. However, the Rockets’ positive momentum was shortlived, as the Owls scored a touchdown on the first play of the ensuing possession—a 67-yard run by Gonzales, who showed off his track speed after breaking through the first level of defense to extend Highlands’ lead to 35-8.
Highlands quarterback Jacob Gutierrez registered his third touchdown pass of the first half with less than a minute remaining in the second quarter, connecting with Daaveion Holmes, who had snuck behind the safety in the end zone for an easy catch to make it 43-8 entering halftime.
Gonzales notched his third rushing touchdown with a 29-yard dash up the middle, breaking arm tackles and bursting into the end zone to extend the Owls’ lead to 51-8. Highlands added another touchdown on the ground late in the fourth quarter to cap off the 57-8 victory. What it means: There isn’t much time to shake off early season rust on a four-game schedule, but Highlands appeared to already be in playoff form as the Owls dominated all three phases of the game for all four quarters.
They’ll face a tougher test in Burbank next week, but for now, Highlands looks like a frontrunner in District 13-5A-I Zone B.
For Kennedy, this is undoubtedly one of those instances where the coaching staff will want to burn the film and start fresh Monday. Quarterback Joseph Simmons was a playmaker for the Rockets, but he needed help from his offensive line and his teammates at the skill positions. The defense looked unorganized and exhausted throughout the game. Kennedy will take what positives it can from this loss and try to build on them heading into next week’s matchup against Lanier.
Quotable: “I was impressed that we came out early and kind of dominated early,” Castillo said.
“Our running backs, our skill kids are great. Overall, I think our team speed was just a little bit better than theirs, and that kind of made the difference.” Game balls: Gonzales seemed to make a highlight play every time he touched the ball, tallying seven carries for 140 yards and three touchdowns and adding two catches for 48 yards and another score. Gutierrez finished 7 of 11 for 175 yards and three touchdowns. For Kennedy, Sanchez rushed 12 times for 29 yards and a touchdown, in addition to three receptions for 32 yards.
Up next: Kennedy will face Lanier at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Edgewood Veterans Stadium. Highlands will take on Burbank at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Alamo Stadium.