By Marcelino Barrell & Marsalis Clark, Clarion Staff reporters
Just as we felt like the NFL season just started, it all wraps up this upcoming Sunday, February 11 with the 2024 Super Bowl at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada. Over 100 million people watch the Super Bowl live, for different reasons: from the big game to the halftime show, to the funny and weird commercials. Today, we will be recapping the NFC and AFC Championship games, and getting some predictions from students at Kennedy for the final score.
Championship Round Games Recap
Kansas City Chiefs (17) @ Baltimore Ravens (10)
This was a shocking game to watch. For the game being a Ravens home game, I am surprised they lost. The score was also a surprise, with only 27 points total scored. However, the Chiefs were able to dominate possession of the ball for 37:30, as opposed to the Ravens 22:30. But, the Ravens had 3 turnovers, 2 of which were in the crucial 4th quarter.
The Ravens scored their sole touchdown in the first quarter, which came from a 30-yard pass to the end zone to Zay Flowers. Meanwhile, the Chiefs scored their 2 touchdowns one drive before that Ravens TD, and one drive after that. The first TD came from a 19-yard end zone catch by Travis Kelce, while the second came from a 2-yard rush by Isiah Pacheco.
During this game, Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes (30/39) threw for 241 yards and rushed for 15 yards while RB Isiah Pacheco rushed for 68 yards. Meanwhile, Ravens QB Lamar Jackson (20/37) threw for 272 yards and rushed for 54 yards while RB Gus Edwards rushed for 20 yards.
The Kansas City Chiefs now advance to Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas, NV against the San Francisco 49ers. This will also be the 4th time in the last 5 years they will appear on the big stage.
Detroit Lions (31) @ San Francisco 49ers (34)
During the first half, the Detroit Lions came out and scored on the game's first drive against the San Francisco 49ers. Jameson Williams scored the first touchdown of the game with a 42-yard run. The 49ers weren't able to score which led to turnover on downs. The Lions scored again with David Montgomery with a 1-yard touchdown. Which made the score 17-0 in the 1st half of the game.
The San Francisco 49ers made a huge comeback during the second half. The wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk came out with an incredible catch from the quarterback Brock Purdy, bringing them closer to the endzone and leading the 49ers to score again with a 6-yard passing touchdown to Brandon Aiyuk. This sparked a change for the 49ers offense which made them start scoring and tied the game up. Quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers Brock Purdy was 20/31. Detroit Lions QB, Jared Goff, was 25/41 during the game.
Ultimately, the 49ers were able to break the tied score and leave with a win.
Super Bowl Predictions
We did get some Super Bowl predictions from students here at Kennedy, let's see what they have to say: “Alright, so this is Taylor Swift versus Brock Purdy,” said Kennedy senior, Colton Chambers.
“In other words, Kansas City Chiefs versus the best team in the league, the 49ers. So, I think it's not gonna be a high-scoring or low-scoring game, it's probably gonna be somewhere in the middle. And I personally think the score is probably going to be like 24 to 31, Niners.”
“I got the Chiefs winning the Super Bowl, Patrick Mahomes got the refs on his side, and the Niners don’t stand a chance,” said Kennedy senior, Dondre Prothro.
“So, the NFL is rigged,” said Kennedy junior Mateo Rossi.
“They want the Chiefs to win, but everyone found out the NFL is rigged. So the Chiefs are gonna be losing, and then they're gonna have a last-minute comeback. Travis Kelce is gonna kiss Taylor Swift on the [expletive] middle of the field at the end of the game.”
Added Kennedy senior, Jaden Esquivel: “I’m gonna say the Niners, that’s it. I have nothing else to say.”
“The Chiefs are going to win because nobody is going to be able to guard Travis Kelce,” said Kennedy coach Dante Bush. He also mentioned that Kansas City has an advantage for practicing this week at the actual game stadium while San Francisco trains on a different type of field.
“The Chiefs are winning the Super Bowl,” says Kennedy junior, Dre.
Statistics
QB:
Patrick Mahomes (KC): 4,183 YDS, 27 TD, 14 INT
Brock Purdy (SF): 4,280 YDS, 31 TD, 11 INT RB: Isaiah Pacheco (KC): 935 YDS, 205 ATT, 7 TD Christian McCaffrey (SF): 1,459 YDS, 272 ATT, 14 TD K: Harrison Butker (KC): 35 FGA, 33 FGM, 100% PAT Jake Moody (SF): 25 FGA, 21 FGM, 98.4% PAT Lead REC Yards:
Travis Kelce (TE): 984 YDS, 93 REC, 5 TD
Brandon Aiyuk (WR): 1,342 YDS, 75 REC, 7 YD
Wrapping Up
All of the NFL’s 272 regular season games and 12 postseason games have led up to the biggest game of the year, ending in Las Vegas. You can catch the big game on CBS on Sunday (2/11) at 3:30 PM PST, or on Paramount.