ANAHEIM - A pair of second-half Cypress turnovers gave Kennedy all the breathing room it needed, allowing the Fighting Irish to score a pair of touchdowns in a 30-20 victory in an Empire League game Thursday night at Western High.

With the victory, their third in a row, the Fighting Irish improved to 2-0 in league and 5-2 overall, while Cypress dropped to 0-2 in league and 4-3 overall.

Kyle White’s recovery of a Mike Vanderipe fumble gave the Fighting Irish, who already were leading, 9-6, the ball at the Cypress 19. One play later, Steve Salazar went up the gut for the touchdown. Eric Torres’ kick extended the lead to 16-6.

Vanderipe lost another fumble, this time to Ryan See, as the third quarter closed. One play into the fourth quarter, Cory Smith went around the left side for an 11-yard touchdown run with 11:48 remaining.

Kennedy added another touchdown four minutes later as Smith capped a 57-yard drive with a 6-yard run for a 30-6 lead with 7:10 left.

Cypress rallied a bit late, getting touchdown tosses from Vanderipe, who was 19 of 46 passing for 184 yards, to Taylor Coe and Ryan Saumur in the final two minutes.

Defenses reigned supreme in the first half, with neither team getting 100 yards of offense in the first two quarters.

Kennedy got on the board first with Zack Ernde’s 1-yard quarterback sneak capping a 38-yard drive late in the first quarter.

Torres added a 26-yard field goal early in the second to extend the lead to 9-0. Saumur had field goals of 22 and 32 yards before the half to cut the lead to three.

For the game, Cypress picked up 230 total yards.

Contact the writer: preps@ocregister.com