Gold, green, and mean! Kennedy High School is excited to kick off another explosive season as The Fighting Irish set their eyes on winning a championship. Armed with their veteran superstars like quarterback Adrian Quezada, tight end Derrick Deese, linebacker Louie Aldapa, and offensive llneman Nick Siatanu’u, the squad looks to make a very stern and bold message to the rest of the Empire League.
“I’m optimistic with the returners that we have coming back this season,” says Kennedy High School’s new first year head coach Sean Clark. “We put in a lot of hard work into our off season, and now we are all trying to put Kennedy football back on the map. We are looking for a lot of success coming into this new season.”
This off season has really bolstered Kennedy High School’s defense even more as they look to foil any scoring schemes of their upcoming opponents. “We are a defensive minded team that has always thrived off of rough physical game play,” Clark said. “We like to play with pride, and love to come into every game striking and hitting hard. As for our offense, we tend to keep a well balance to create a more versatile attack with both passing and running.”
The Fighting Irish’s superstar veteran running back Timothy Min fully supports Coach Sean Clark’s notion when it comes to commencing on within his new offensive system.
“We have great team chemistry, and coach Clark keeps things fun and loose in practice,” Min said. “Together we have learned to have a great sense of responsibility for each other, and discipline,” states the senior. “We have built a great team, and an even stronger family. We are truly and literally a band of brothers. We are a very honest and open group of players that actually look out for each other. There is no other group that I would want to be my teammates or my family. I wouldn’t want to go to battle alongside anyone else besides these guys right here.”
Another very powerful voice that helps to lead these shamrock crusaders is veteran star offensive lineman and center Brian Kim. Kim is a senior that has made a rather heroic reputation for himself, and for his teammates both on and off of the field.
“Last season, I completely tore my lateral meniscus,” says Kim. “I was out for two whole months, but I have made a strong comeback from my surgeries. Ever since February I have been back at it and back on the grind! This is the culture here. It is what we do. We work hard, we don’t give up, and we stay on the grind!”
Clark is very pleased and inspired by his player’s work ethic, and sense of tenacity. Together they are united and relentless. This is a great attitude that has traveled well throughout the Fighting Irish’s football organization. “The players are taking the new workout regiments and programs well,” explains Clark. “The strength and conditioning coaches have applied many new and creative tactics to improve our player’s speed, agility, and strength.”
Min agrees with Clark, and also includes, “We have been working extra hard with coach. He emphasizes a lot of cardiovascular based workouts. We love spending extra time out there in the field and on the track with him. He does whatever it takes to make us better.”
When asked about what he would like to say to any fellow SoCal citizen out there who has not caught a Kennedy Fighting Irish football game as of yet, Clark had the following message to relay:
“My biggest hope is that our overall community is proud of how hard that we work. We have a very tight knit community here in this town and everyone is really supportive. Our school has a lot of tradition. We train our players, but we don’t work them too hard to the point that they get sick, injured, or no longer enjoy the passion of the game itself anymore.
“We believe in providing a healthy group of players who are happy, and this translates into a better product out there on the field for the local residents. Our team believes in having good fun, this reflects towards the loyal fan base of our high school.”
As the off season preparations for the league start winding down, Kennedy encourages all Southern California residents to come out and watch as these Fighting Irish players make like Celtic Guardians and go to battle against other Empire League elite teams.