Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Kennon fulfills promise to his father
McCrory’s Reid Kennon came roaring off the field as the clock ticked toward all zeroes.
His uncle, Glen Campbell — also the Jaguars’ offensive coordinator and father of quarterback Cason Campbell — pulled him in, holding on for a few seconds before tapping Kennon on the backside and sending him on his way.
Kennon then found his grandfather, Doug, for a brief hug before finally finding his dad, Coach Chris Kennon.
The message from father to son was brief: “We did it.”
But after turning in a comprehensive performance, routing Fordyce 34-7 in the Class 2A state championship game Sunday afternoon, not much else needed to be said.
“It created a special bond I don’t think most people have,” Reid Kennon said of getting to share the championship run with his dad. “We fight more than most people do because we’re together every single day in practice [and sometimes] we have disagreeing ideas about defenses and offenses, but it created a special bond that brought us closer.”
Kennon more than earned his game MVP honors, running 15 times for 84 yards and 3 touchdowns while adding 7 tackles at linebacker.
And if the stage didn’t seem overwhelming, it’s because Kennon had been on the War Memorial sidelines in Little Rock before. When McCrory won its only other state title in 2015, Kennon was right alongside his father.
It was then that Kennon told Chris that he wanted to be back playing for a title of his own by the time he was a senior.
“We knew [this year] was his last and we hadn’t won one with him,” Chris Kennon said. “That group of seniors just bonded…and they just refused to lose. … You knew it was a special group and they had the talent to make a good run.”
Reid Kennon and Cason Campbell had played together since fourth grade, so it was fitting that the pair accounted for more than two-thirds of the Jaguars’ offense — Campbell completed 6 of 10 passes for 72 yards, while running for 17 and logging McCrory’s other offensive score.
Although the pair had the Jaguars humming, it wasn’t until Kennon’s third touchdown — a 2-yard carry he followed with a successful two- point conversion run, making it 28-7 late in the third quarter — that McCrory felt like it’d be taking a title back to northeast Arkansas.
“We could [breathe] a little bit but not too much,” Kennon said. “They have athletes everywhere and they could score in a second.”
The score never came. The Kennons got the moment they’d waited six years for.
“He deserved what he got,” Chris Kennon said of his son. “That couldn’t have made me more proud, just to see him win and being happy is what did it for me.”