Victory!

Someone should have told the Galileo Lions (1-2-1) to look in their rearview mirror Saturday afternoon, because the Kennedy Eagles (1-3) had their pedal to the metal and raced across the Bay Bridge for a 44-0 win.

And just like that—15 seconds to be exact—return specialist Rashid Jamerson took the opening kickoff and raced down the field for an 8-0 lead. Jamerson would score again near the end of the first quarter when he snared a 35-yard pass from quarterback Roman Espinoza.

It all happened so quickly. By the end of the half it was 30-0.

During halftime head coach Mack Carminer gathered his team under the shadow of the scoreboard and gave them small bottles of Gatorade to slurp on. His team was up by more than four scores, but he still let them know he didn’t like seeing some of the individual pouting and long faces that his players were wearing.

“We got two more quarters,” he told his players as they tried to rehydrate. “I’ve seen some terrible things happen when you don’t know you got two quarters left. You better get your minds right fellas ‘cause we got some finishing to do.”

In the second half the Eagles took care of the ball and managed the clock for the rest of the game. For the game, five Eagles runners totaled more than 50 yards each on the ground. Running back Najee Island led the way with 90 yards and three touchdowns.

“We practiced extra hard this week so we all felt it [the win] coming,” Island said. “We all kept our heads up and we kept cheering people on even though they was messing up. I think that helped us out a lot to get this win.”

“This is not going to be the only win,” Takkarist McKinley told his teammates at the end of the game as they huddled near the 10-yard line. “We have six more games left and we’re going to be winning those, too!”

Immediately they all shouted with pride and began doing Eagles jumping jacks.

Eagles offensive coach Tim Logan told the players the win was about working hard and playing hard. “Now you got a taste of victory—you know what it takes to win now,” he said. “We got to come together and make less mistakes and no turnovers. Those are the things that will get us over the top.”

For Carminer, there’s still plenty of work to do. “That’s a good win and it’s been a long time coming,” he told his players as they listened for more inspiration. “But now we got to figure out how to win right. Because I remember the scoreboard saying ‘Guest 44-0, not no individual [saying 44-0].’”