Warren rides the Kennedy
Greg Kennedy, one of Warren's two game-breaking running backs, stood on the sideline waiting simply to get in the game.
He was hoping to break a kickoff, though it didn't seem likely considering he said head coach Dave Mohapp told him nine out of 10 times an opponent won't boot to him.
Kennedy and the Blue Devil offense couldn't get on the field because Antioch was hogging the football, taking Friday night's opening kickoff and playing its typical brand of power football, with a little passing thrown in.
The Sequoits ran 18 straight plays and ate seven minutes and two seconds off the clock, settling for Vinnie Holm's 23-yard field goal.
They then kicked off - to Kennedy.
The diminutive, speedy senior raced 89 yards for a score and Warren never looked back, winning 40-24 in a North Suburban Conference crossover pitting last year's two division champs.
On a night Warren honored Reggie Hughes' 1991 high-powered team that dazzled with a spread offense and won 10 games - with the former head coach and several of his former players in attendance - the current Blue Devils showed they can light up a scoreboard quickly, too.
Warren, which moved to 3-0 while handing Antioch (2-1) its first regular-season loss since 2007, got 4 touchdowns from Kennedy and a pair from fullback Tom Lindal.
Besides his kickoff-return TD, Kennedy rushed for 174 yards on just 12 carries. He had TD runs of 4, 33 and 85 yards. Lindal gained 161 yards on the ground on only 9 carries. He had touchdown bursts of 15 and 80 yards.
"They make it a lot easier for us (linemen)," said offensive tackle Trever Erbach, part of a line that also included Jeff Cernucan, Jason Freeck, Jose Guevara, Josh Dust and tight end Caleb Haley.
"They're probably the two best running backs in the conference," Erbach added. "Greg is just a fast kid. He sees the holes so well. Tom is our power guy. He sees the holes well too. He's just not as fast as Greg."
Kennedy is fast enough that he needed just 13 seconds to grab Holm's kickoff and give Warren the lead after Antioch took its 3-0 advantage. He busted up the middle and veered away from the athletic Holm, who nearly caught Kennedy and shoved him out of bounds.
"Vinnie Holm can put (the ball) in the end zone," said Sequoits coach Brian Glashagel, defending his kicker/running back. "I said, 'Vinnie, are you going to put the ball in the end zone?' He said, 'Yep, I'm going to put the ball in the end zone.' He didn't put the ball in the end zone.
"He kind of dubbed it and got underneath it. There was no strategy. Then you got a great athlete (Kennedy), and our kick coverage broke down."
Kennedy was ready to run with the football, even if he was idling on the sideline for so long.
"Coach was like, 'If you get the ball, you got to hit the gas pedal,' " Kennedy said. "That kickoff return set our tone, for both offense and defense. Once we got that touchdown, we just turned it up a notch."
Warren actually had two possessions in the first half, but scored on both thanks to TD runs by Lindal (15 yards) and Kennedy (4).
Antioch ran 39 offensive plays in the opening half to Warren's 18, but the Sequoits trailed 21-10.
The Blue Devils opened the second half by scoring on their first two possessions. Kennedy scored from 33 yards out and Lindal sped 80 yards for six points.
Antioch fullback Steve Lorenzini rushed 28 times for 111 yards and a touchdown.