Farrell 65 Kennedy Catholic 50

I had a very enjoyable first time ever visit to Kennedy Catholic High School to see their Golden Eagles host the crosstown rival Steelers of Farrell. I was very impressed with their Gym and comfy bleachers and I even had the privileged to meet the AD, a very nice gentleman.

As you can imagine, the stands were practically filled as the first quarter began. The Farrell Steelers seemed like they were on a crusade by hopping out to a quick lead after a 4-4 tie they scored 16 straight points to make it 20-4. The score after one was 22-8. Donald Jackson and Myles Ransom blocked almost every shot the Golden Eagles brought into the paint and Farrells defense caused more turnovers than I could count. But, it was the play of Traphael Stubbs that caught my eye. He scored 10 points in the frame and Ransom added 8. Whew, were they ever playing with high energy!

The second quarter started out much the same as they continued their run to build a 31-13 lead at the 3:41 mark. At that point the Kennedy boys started to cause some turnovers of their own and mounted a comeback behind 12 points by the Golden Eagles Randall who was the games high scorer with 24 points. The revitalized Golden Eagles closed the gap to enter halftime at a 34-22 score.

Farrell came out cold in the third quarter but Kennedy's Ponzurick did not. he gave his team a boost by scoring 6 points in the quarter but no one else was able to hit the scoring column. Finally at the 4:09 mark Farrell scored their first points of the second half with a bucket by the Steelers Chapman. From that point Farrell ran off 8 straight points to win the quarter 10-6.

The final quarter started off with the score of 44-28. This would be the only quarter that Kennedy would outscore Farrell 22-21. For the Golden Eagles it was Jones and Randall that provided the bulk of the scoring by combining for 18 of the 22 points. For Farrell this is where big man Donald Jackson made sure that there would be no comeback by scoring 16 of his team high 18 which was one more than Stubbs who added 17 for the game. The final score was 65-50 in favor of the Steelers.

Observations: The Stubb's boy has the best hands of any high school player I have seen since the early 70's. He just swoops rebounds out of the air with one hand and then for effect slaps it hard into his other hand. He is a great player and fun to watch. He is BigSkinny Player of the game.

Like last year, Farrell definitely has the horses to challenge for the District 10 title but I am sure there will be some teams up North that will have something to say about that. They have a wide open style of play and it is fun to watch. My only question is, How will that translate when they meet a very disciplined and deliberate style like Girard or a shoot the lights out Northeast. I don't want to hurry the season but the playoffs in AA are going to be very good again this year.

As for Kennedy, I was very impressed at how they played pretty even with Farrell the final three quarters. The Randall kid is very quick and shoots well off the dribble. The 6'5" Jones really came to life in the 4th quater and I understand another 6'5" boy didn't even play this evening. The Golden Eagles played all kinds of defenses and switched them often. I would think that they will be the #1 rated Class A team in D10. The Kennedy coach will have to sit out the next game because he had two technical fouls.

I enjoyed sitting with Farrell Super Fans Jake, Dustin, and Tyler. They were able to answer any questions I had about the rivalry.

Kudos to The River Radio station. I sat behind the guys broadcasting the game and then listened to them when I got in my truck to head home. They do a nice job plus when they were done with their program they gave me some nice Christmas music for the ride home. Nothing like a Burl Ives tune to make a trip shorter. I lost the signal at Meadville but I enjoyed it while it lasted.

One last comment: There were no Hot Dogs but then again, I was only a couple miles away from the Sharon Hot Dog Shop. So did I or didn't I?

Also, I mistakenly referred to the Kennedy Boys as Crusaders instead of Golden Eagles. I apologize for that brain cramp, I knew better.

I can be reached at big@bigskinnyonline.com