Clik here to view.
When Jonathan Castro first went out for football at Kennedy, no one knew who he was.
So his new teammates gave him a nickname.
“Honestly, I just love the color pink,” the Crusaders senior said. “So I came in sophomore year and no one really knew my name. They saw I had a pink mouthguard, pink gloves, pink cleats. So they’re like, ‘Pinky, you’re up.’
“And ever since then it stuck.”
Two years later, Castro is still wearing pink and now is a known quantity. That’s a big reason Kennedy is rolling along despite losing its starting quarterback to injury on the first drive of a Week 3 loss to Marshall.
The Crusaders held on for a 14-12 Public League White Southwest win over Carver in Week 5 at Rockne Stadium to move closer to what would be the second IHSA playoff berth in program history.
With Castro and junior Kamarion McCarter taking the bulk of the snaps out of the Wildcat formation, the Crusaders moved to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in conference play.
“We’re kind of piecing it together on offense,” Kennedy coach Robert Albano said. “Got a sophomore quarterback in there, so we’re trying to take a little heat off him. Had some success running and (with) the suffocating defense we have, we’re trying to keep the ball, run the clock and score.”
That formula was working well.
Castro scored both Kennedy touchdowns on short runs and finished with 95 yards on 18 carries. He scored from 2 yards out with 9:51 left in the first quarter, one play after the Crusaders took over after a bad punt snap. His second TD was from 3 yards with 7:13 remaining in the game.
McCarter had 54 yards on 15 carries and sophomore quarterback Julian Cuevas added 23 yards on seven rushes.
Castro is glad to carry the load now that the Crusaders are run-heavy.
“Of course, I love it,” he said. “Any touch I get, I try to get yards. No one can stop me. I know me and my boys, the whole line, all 10 other players on the field — they’re gonna keep pushing for me so I’m gonna keep pushing for them.”
The difference in the game was two missed conversion attempts by Carver (3-2, 1-1).
“Honestly, we overcame some adversity,” Castro said. “But I know our team, I know our guys. They’ve got heart. So long as we’ve got heart, we can do anything we put our minds to.
“Carver was a tough team, but we’re gonna keep on rolling.”
“It’s a program on the rise,” Albano said. “We went from 41 kids last year up to 65 with a JV team this year, and we’re trying to do big things.”
