La Palma, CA — The Loara Saxons arrived at Kennedy High Friday afternoon on a blustery, overcast day, to take on the Fighting Irish in a Quarter Final CIF playoff matchup. The Garden Grove League champions, where they went 15-0, were sporting a 9 game winning streak and had knocked off highly respected St. Paul in an upset win on Tuesday. A victory would put them in the CIF semi-finals for the first time since 1983. But Kennedy had a different outcome in mind. The Irish sent their ace Wyatt Johnson to the mound before a standing room only crowd of raucous supporters. The big right-hander showed he was more than ready, turning away the first 11 hitters in a row. On the day, only 3 batters were able to manage hits off of him and he seemed to grow stronger as the game progressed. Of the last 7 outs recorded, 6 of them were by strikeout, including all three batters in the final frame. Over all, Johnson struck out 11 in a complete game, 3 hit shutout. Meanwhile, Kennedy was having it’s own trouble with the fire-balling Loara left-hander, Pat Monroe. Monroe held the Irish in check until the 4th inning when they loaded the bases with one out. Back to back RBI singles by Evan Anderson and Chase Leonard put Kennedy up 2-0 and the Irish never looked back. Kennedy loaded the bases again in the 5th, this time with no outs. Tyler Beckler hit a groundball that prompted a wild throw to the plate allowing Johnny Soto to score. Jaelyn Edds then drove in Johnson with a ground ball to the right side and the Irish were up 4-0. A Sebastian McSherry single plated the fifth Kennedy run in the 6th, making the final margin 5-0. But it wasn’t just the offense that sparkled. In the 5th inning, Jaelyn Edds made a diving stop of a groundball that was destined for right field and then threw the runner out from his knees. Then, after 2 runners reached safely, Johnson and Leonard ran a perfectly timed play to pick the runner off of second base and end the threat. Johnson and Leonard led the Irish hitting attack with 2 hits each, while McSherry, Edds and Anderson all added one hit apiece. The Irish will travel to Fontana on Tuesday to take on the Sunkist League Champions, the Summit Skyhawks. The last time a Kennedy team reached the semi-finals (1989), none of the current players were even born. The remarkable season continues.