KCD crushes rival Holy Cross

With the offense putting points on the board and their defense snagging an interception and a pick-six all within the first half, the game was over well before the clock ran out. KCD coach Matthew Jones said he felt the defense’s performance was phenomenal.

“I did a lot of shouting,” he said. “Losing to those guys so many years, it’s just a load lifted off of our program. We’re nowhere near a finished product, but we played like we should.”

KCD land Holy Cross have played each year since 2004, but the Bearcats’ lone win in that period came in 2012, according to KHSAA statistics.

With a combination of junior quarterback Jackson Diaz and senior receiver Jared Frank, the team marched its way down the field time and time again. Jones said Frank’s unselfishness as a player and the chemistry between him and Diaz have made the team hard to stop.

“Jared’s an unselfish kid and he’ll play any position we need him to play,” Jones said. “For those two to be a tandem makes us tough.”

Holy Cross quarterback Jarred McDonald connected with junior running back Mario Convenuto for some big gains, but the Bearcats’ defense stopped the team every time. Interceptions, sacks and third- and fourth-down stops were KCD’s bread and butter.

“What I told them was as a player and a coach, I have lived this 34 to nothing kind of thing many times,” Holy Cross coach Bob Bronger said. “The way you bounce back from it is you come to work on Monday and you prepare yourself and you go hard and you try to get better.”

For the Bearcats, Jones said he wants to make sure the team is ready for what’s coming the rest of the season.

“I think that’s our job as coaches to keep our kids grounded and let them understand that they played well, but there’s things to improve on,” he said. “We want to be district champs and this is just the first step.”