Carter Button, A.J. Zweeres lead Morris past Joliet West

MORRIS — A.J. Zweeres has a good feel for the end zone.

The Morris senior wide receiver found the end zone three times in the first half Friday night in a 50-20 win over Joliet West. Two of them were of the diving, drag-the-foot-near-the-sideline variety as he hauled in throws from quarterback Carter Button. The third came when Button scrambled and found him in a crowd, then Zweeres ran through the West defense into the end zone.

“I am unbelievably confident when I throw the ball A.J.’s way,” said Button, who was 11 for 17 for 170 yards and four touchdowns. “He makes plays every time I throw him the ball. All of our receivers made great plays tonight, and the offensive line did a great job in protection.”

Zweeres finished with 80 yards and three touchdowns on six receptions, also adding an interception while playing defense.

“We work on plays like those in our wide receiver drills,” Zweeres said about his toe-dragging catches. “Sometimes before practice, Carter and I will work on those types of plays, him throwing the ball out of reach of the defense and me trying to keep my feet inbounds. I have to give a shoutout to my quarterback for throwing perfect passes.

“The offense was clicking pretty well. We threw the ball well last week, but we really ran it well this week. The line did an amazing job all night.”

While the passing game put the points on the board, it was the running game, led by Jacob Swartz, that put Morris in the position to score. Swartz had 101 yards and a TD of his own in the first half alone, and finished with 172 yards and two TDs on 27 carries.

“Establishing the running game was our No. 1 goal tonight offensively,” Morris coach Alan Thorson said. “The line proved to a lot of people, including themselves, that they can do the job.”

Joliet West was able to find the end zone twice in the first half, once on a 12-yard pass from Juan Rico to Marion Starks and again on a 1-yard sneak by Rico. Both two-point conversion attempts failed. The Tigers scored a TD on a 25-yard pass from Rico to Parker Schwarting in the second half as well. Rico finished with 151 yards through the air and two touchdowns.

“This was a great Week 2 game for us. It showed us what we need to work on, and it’s a great learning experience.”

—  Dan Tito, Joliet West football coach

“We were able to hang with them for a while,” Joliet West coach Dan Tito said. “This is why we scheduled a strong team like Morris. Give credit to Coach Thorson. They run a great program at Morris. If we want to be a playoff team, we are going to play teams like Morris in the playoffs. This was a great Week 2 game for us. It showed us what we need to work on, and it’s a great learning experience.

“Juan Rico is a stud. He was a safety for us last year and moved to quarterback this year. He is mentally and physically gifted, and he’s also a great leader.

“We have nothing to hang our heads about. We just need to learn from this game and move on.”

Morris (2-0) scored on the game’s opening possession, with Zweeres making a diving catch in the right side of the end zone from 9 yards out. After the defense forced a punt, Morris scored again, this time on a 1-yard plunge by Swartz, to take a 14-0 lead.

West answered with a touchdown drive of its own, with Rico hitting Starks from 12 yards out for a score. Morris, though, got that score right back. After a 26-yard screen from Button to Swartz, Button scrambled to his right, then hit Zweeres, who weaved his way through the West defense for a 25-yard touchdown and a 21-6 Morris lead.

Joliet West got a 1-yard sneak by Rico to cut it to 21-12, and Morris ended the half with Zweeres’ second toe-dragger, this time in the left corner of the end zone, to take a 28-12 lead into halftime.

“All of the credit goes to the offensive line tonight,” Thorson said. “Carter wasn’t sacked all night, and we had some really great drives that ate up a lot of the clock. Swartz ran hard, and so did Griffin Zweeres and Carter when he ran.

“A.J. is obviously the guy, but guys like Brett Bounds, Jack Wheeler and Ethan Mumbrue made some good catches tonight, too. The defense played well. Give Joliet West credit. They made some good plays, but our defense made some good adjustments at halftime.”