Jeannette cruises past Homer-Center to claim 2nd PIAA football championship

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, December 7, 2017 | 4:03 PM

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HERSHEY — Early in the second quarter of Thursday’s PIAA Class A football championship, Jeannette found itself trailing Homer-Center.

It didn’t take long for senior Robert Kennedy to change that with an electrifying run that instantly swung momentum.

He raced 56 yards for a touchdown, stunning the Homer-Center defense with his explosive speed, and Jeannette never looked back, rolling to a 42-12 victory at Hersheypark Stadium.

It was the second state title for Jeannette (15-1), which won the Class AA title in 2007 under the guidance of Terrelle Pryor.

The Jeannette win also ended Homer-Center’s Cinderella season, which saw the Wildcats (13-2) end Bishop Guilfoyle’s 59-game winning streak and become the first Indiana County and Heritage Conference school to reach the state final.

Kennedy said he started to cry as the clock was winding down late in the fourth quarter and the Jeannette starters started celebrating.

“This victory brought tears to my eyes,” he said, watching the clock go to zero. “It’s a blessing to win.”

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Kennedy rushed for 114 yards and two touchdowns and also threw two touchdown passes. He completed 5 of 9 passes for 143 yards and also caught a 46-yard pass from Seth Howard.

Kennedy’s second-quarter run had Homer-Center’s defense scrambling, and his pin-point passing had the Jeannette offense rolling. His touchdown run gave Jeannette a 9-6 lead, and then his 25-yard pass to Zack Berginc — a perfect strike down the middle of the field — pushed the Jayhawks’ lead to 15-6.

“When Robert got the ball, you could see they couldn’t catch him and the wind came out of them a little bit.” Jeannette coach Roy Hall said. “The defense stepped up and played very well, especially after the first drive. We did some different types of blitzes, and our speed and quickness helped neutralize them.”

Jeannette’s defense, which allowed a 93-yard touchdown drive on Homer-Center’s first possession, shut down the Wildcats’ vaunted running attack, which rushed for 322 yards against Steelton-Highspire in the semifinals. They finished with 131 Thursday.

Jeannette defensive linemen Jalen Jones and Anthony Johnson, who blocked a punt, and linebackers Justin Cramer and Ian Smith consistently made tackles in the backfield. Cramer had 71⁄2 tackles, including 21⁄2 for a loss. Johnson had 41⁄2 and 2 for a loss.

“Their speed was the difference,” Homer-Center coach Greg Page said. “Our pass defense had been playing really well, and they got behind us a few times. They put the ball on the money, and not only were they getting into space, they didn’t make any mistakes.

“We knew they were going to decoy (Kennedy), and it’s hard because you have to pay attention to him. But there were times when he was at quarterback we had guys watching him, and you can’t do that.”

Kennedy’s 44-yard strike to Howard set up his 1-yard run to push the Jeannette lead to 23-7 at halftime.

After Marcus Barnes intercepted a Ben Schmidt pass on the second play of the third quarter, Kennedy engineered a 10-play scoring drive, hitting senior wide receiver Tre Cunningham with a 29-yard TD pass on fourth-and-14 to make it 29-6.

“When we got up three touchdowns, I felt we had it in the bag because our guys were really playing ball,” Hall said. “After that first drive, we adjusted and made some moves and really shut them down.

“Robert did a great job, but this win goes to the entire team. There is no ‘I’ in team. We were quicker than they were, and we got to the gaps quicker and made big plays. We played our tails off on defense.”

Seth Howard scored on a 9-yard run in the third quarter, and Imani Sanders’ 8-yard run early in the fourth enacted the mercy-rule running clock.

Jesse Lee scored twice for Homer-Center, on a 7-yard run in the first quarter and a 6-yard run in the fourth.

“Their defense provided a lot of pressure up the gut for us, and I thought we’d be able to handle it better,” Page said. “We just weren’t able to stem the tide against them. They were very effective with their execution.”

Paul Schofield is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at pschofield@tribweb.com or via Twitter @Schofield_Trib.

Tags: Homer-Center, Jeannette