Coached by Jon Kitna, H.S. team runs score to 91-0

When 16-year NFL veteran Jon Kitna retired, he decided to coach his old high school football team in Tacoma, Wash., where his son would soon be a freshman. He also started teaching algebra.

That was in early 2012. Now, his son is the junior quarterback, and they've turned Lincoln High School back into the powerhouse that it was during the older Kitna's high school days.

Such a powerhouse, in fact, that on Friday night they won in embarrassingly big fashion. But while many gawked at the score, the opposing coach said it's all part of the game.

Kitna's son, Jordan, threw for seven touchdowns and 197 yards in the first half, giving the Abes a 70-0 lead. The elder Kitna didn't play any of his starters in the second half, didn't let any of the three QBs throw a pass longer than five yards after the first quarter, and stopped blitzing in the second. All 60 guys on the roster got into the game – and in the second half, the back-ups added another five touchdowns to round out the 91-0 win.

Regardless, opposing coach Ricky Daley, whose team has only won one game since 2011, told the News Tribune that there are no hard feelings.

“I know Jon from before he was a head coach. I know he’s a good man,” Daley said. “We’re good friends. I don’t think they were running up the score ... People are going to question (the score), but what are you going to do? Just give us the ball back? ... We just have to work on a lot of things.”

The Tribune added that Washington had seen a 91-0 game in 2002, and an 83-0 win in 2008. Last year, a 91-0 win in Texas led parents of the losing team to cry foul.

Kitna's team is 5-0, winning by no less than 22 points each week. They won 62-0 in week four. When Kitna took over the team in 2012, he donated $150,000 worth of weight-room equipment and his former Cowboys and Seahawks teammates made sure the players, the majority of whom are from low-income families, had cleats, jerseys, pads and even washing machines to clean the jerseys.

For Kitna, coaching at Lincoln was his plan all along. He said he'd applied for the job as he was finishing his teaching degree as an undergrad, but was turned down. A few days later, he landed a job with the Seattle Seahawks, putting his coaching plans on hold. But eventually, he made it back, and now, his team is back on top – perhaps by a bit too much.