The Meadows captures 2A crown

By Christopher Drexel

Saturday, Nov. 22, 2008 | 11:11 p.m.

The Meadows had waited long enough.

It had been seven years since the school had won its last state football championship. So with 40 seconds remaining in the 2A title game Friday at Arbor View, the Mustang faithful began to celebrate just a bit early.

Cheerleaders slipped on pre-made championship T-shirts, coach Frank DeSantis had a cooler of ice water dumped on his back and Meadows students began filing for the gate, ready to rush the field.

When the clock finally read all zeros, the Meadows had officially earned the title of best team in 2A with a 46-30 victory against Pershing County. The Meadows hadn't won state since the program captured five consecutive 2A titles from 1997 to 2001.

"I'm ecstatic right now," Meadows running back Pat Kenny said. "I won a state title in wrestling last year, but it felt nothing like this. Being able to celebrate with your team and knowing we all worked together and could do it is great."

It was Kenny who paced a high-powered Meadows offense throughout the afternoon as he rushed for 149 yards on 22 carries including five of the Mustangs' six touchdowns. The Meadows captain called it the best game of his high school career.

Kenny was able to help open up a passing game that gave Pershing County fits throughout the game. The Meadows quarterback Gerard Martinez completed 16 of his 26 passing attempts for 219 yards, one touchdowns and no interceptions.

Martinez also ran for 51 yards on five carries.

Despite playing on a big stage as a 14-year-old freshman, Martinez looked like veteran.

"As old as I am, this is the best feeling in the world," Martinez said. "I was pretty sure I was going to start going into this year. I was dreaming high. But if you dream high, then you're going to expect big things from yourself."

Martinez began the game connecting on eight of his initial 11 passes to set the tone early. The Meadows scored on their opening possession when Kenny took a direct snap and ran the ball in for a 5-yard score three minutes into the contest.

After a three-and-out by Pershing County, the Meadows scored again on a 1-yard run by Kenny. The defense started strong, too, as Pershing County had just 2 yards of total offense in 10 plays during the opening quarter.

Pershing County finally found a rhythm in the second quarter, cutting its deficit to 14-8 on a three-yard scoring pass from Dylan Bloyed to Udy Gonzalez.

But the Meadows scored again on its next possession on another 1-yard run by Kenny, which was set up by a 35-yard pass from Martinez to Austin Brown.

DeSantis said he was pleased with his team's fast start.

"We were hoping to get the lead early and take them out of their running game so they might panic, and we'd go from there," DeSantis said. "I don't think they throw it up North as much as we do, so I think we got them on their heels a little bit."

Pershing County narrowed the gap again on the final play of the half on a 52-yard scoring pass from Bloyed to Gonzalez, but the Meadows scored 17 unanswered points to open the third quarter that put the game out of reach.

The first was a 5-yard touchdown pass from Martinez to Dylan Lee following an interception by Nate Gord. Pershing County fumbled on the ensuing kickoff return, and Lee subsequently connected on a 27-yard field goal.

Kenny then found the end zone again on a 7-yard run with just more than a minute remaining in the third quarter to make it 38-16. He would go on to score one final time with 4:34 remaining on another 5-yard run.

"I've always tried to be a big-game player and step up to the competition rather than play down," Kenny said. "Coach DeSantis put together a great game plan that just put us far of the other team. It seemed like we were always one step ahead of them the whole game."

Christopher Drexel can be reached at 990-8929 or [email protected].