GALT, CA (MPG) - The Galt Warriors defeated the Kennedy Cougars at Kennedy last Friday night in a close game 21-13. The Warriors showed up with a lot of energy and enthusiasm and garnered the first win for their new head coach Mark Walden.

“The team took a big step Friday night in laying a foundation of who they are and who they are going to be,” said Waldon. “322 yards rushing spread out among five different runners is a testament to an offensive line that is beginning to gel and find themselves.”

The Warriors received the kickoff and kept plugging away at Kennedy. With five minutes left in the first quarter, Nick Pena made it across the goal line but the yellow flag was thrown and the touchdown was called back due to holding.

The Warriors attempted their first pass, but the ball went dead on a short throw. 

They attempted another unsuccessful run into the end zone and the ball was turned over on downs. With four minutes and 38 seconds left in the first quarter the score was still 0-0. 

The Cougars were plagued by penalties and had a false start. Then Kennedy ran the ball, and they got another penalty and were moved back to their own ten-yard line. They punted on the fourth down with 2:16 left in the first half. 

Galt ran the ball eight yards on their first play. Then Kennedy committed a false start and was penalized five yards, so it was a first down for the Warriors. 

Galt ran the ball 15 yards on the next play and got another first down on Kennedy’s 15-yard line. 

Nick Nemo ran it in for the first score of the night with a little more than two minutes left in the first half. Hayden Miller came in to kick and the point was good.

After the game was delayed for an injury, the team jumped in, and after getting the ball back, drove down to the one-yard line but fumbled, and Kennedy took over the ball with a minute and 16 seconds left in the half.

The score at halftime was Galt 7, Kennedy 0.

Kennedy started out with the ball after halftime, but the Galt defense was relentless and kept driving them backwards and sacked the quarterback. Kennedy was forced to punt the ball.

Izaac Robledo broke free and crossed into the end zone. Miller’s kick was good and the score was 14-0.

Near the end of the third quarter a Kennedy running back broke free of the Warrior defense and ran close to 50 yards to put them on the board, 14-7.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Noah Barron had an amazing run breaking and shaking off multiple tackles to get the Warriors down to the 25-yard line with 9:09 left in the game. 

The Warriors were not able to take advantage of their position, and were tackled in the backfield for a loss, and they ended up punting with 7:39 left. 

Kennedy finally connected a pass after multiple misses, and it got all the way down to Galt’s 40-yard line.  Next, the Cougars broke free with a run up the middle and score. The kick was no good, so the score was a close Galt 14, Kennedy 13 with 6:45 left in the game.

Galt received the ball and the offense got back to work. Jayden Jackson scored on a huge run for the Warriors and the extra point was good. The score was then Galt 21-13. 

Kennedy attempted a pass on their fourth down, and it was almost caught by the Warriors.

With Galt in control of the ball with 1:30 left on the clock the lights went out because they were on a timer and it was 10:16 p.m. 

It took a good 20 minutes to get them turned back on so the teams could play the last minute.

 Galt held and the team celebrated their win.

The Warriors play Elite High School Friday, Aug. 30, at Warrior Stadium.