Griffin Zweeres, Morris ‘flip the switch,’ overcome sloppy start to beat Coal City

MORRIS – It definitely wasn’t the prettiest game on either side, but Morris came away with a season-opening 31-12 win over Coal City on Friday.

Morris was its own worst enemy, especially in the first half. It was guilty of seven penalties for 78 yards before halftime and finished with 10 penalties for 95 yards. A large portion of its offense came on chunk plays, mostly on passes from Brady Varner to Jack Wheeler. Varner, a junior starting his first game, finished 11 for 19 for 281 yards and a touchdown. Wheeler, a senior who has committed to play baseball for the University of Illinois, caught five passes for 190 yards, including a 72-yard touchdown.

When push came to shove, however, it was senior quad-captain Griffin Zweeres doing the shoving. Zweeres bulled his way for 78 yards and three touchdowns on 24 carries, scoring twice in the fourth quarter after Coal City’s Jonathan Widlowski returned a punt 43 yards for a touchdown to pull the Coalers to within 17-12 with 10:58 to play.

“Getting the win is the important thing,” Zweeres said. “It was a little rough for us, especially in the first half. Once we got going in the second half and got our confidence, we played pretty well.

“We kind of flipped the switch, especially in the fourth quarter. We were able to get our tempo going faster on offense and I think we were able to wear them down.”

After Widlowski’s punt return, Morris got a 34-yard completion from Varner to Wheeler and then a 15-yard run by Zweeres to reach the Coal City 30. A seven-yard run by Varner and a six-yard gain by Zweeres put the ball at the Coalers’ 17. A fumbled snap cost Morris six yards, but Zweeres capped the drive with a 23-yard burst through the middle of the line before cutting left to avoid a tackler and reach the end zone.

Morris’ Brett Bounds then intercepted a pass, his second pick of the game, to set his offense up at the Coal City 36. On third-and-10, Varner hit Wheeler for a 16-yard gain. Three plays later, Zweeres went over from the 2 to cap the scoring.

“I was pretty happy with how our offense played in the fourth quarter,” Morris coach Alan Thorson said. “There’s still a lot of work to be done, but the way Griffin ran in the second half showed a lot of heart and we showed some positive things to build from.

“That being said, we may have needed a game like this to be humbled a bit. We have a pretty young team and we need to understand that this is varsity football. We can’t keep playing like this down the road or it will hurt us. We had too many turnovers and penalties, and we did not do a good job on special teams. I will take full responsibility for that.”

Coal City scored first, forcing a Morris punt on the game’s first possession and taking over at the Morris 37. Morris’ Bryce Varner intercepted a pass on fourth-and-14 from the 25, but Morris was whistled for defensive pass interference, setting up fourth-and-2 from the 12. Coal City’s Landin Benson (21 carries, 76 yards) got the first down, then had two straight 5-yard runs, the second finishing in the end zone. The extra-point kick failed, and the Coalers held a 6-0 lead.

Morris got a 27-yard field goal by Connor Ahearn on its ensuing drive to cut it to 6-3, and the Morris defense forced a punt. On third-and-8, Varner hit Wheeler behind the Coal City defense for a 72-yard touchdown and a 10-6 lead. Midway through the second quarter, Zweeres scored from two yards out to put his team ahead 17-6, which was the halftime score. Neither team scored in the third quarter.

“I was happy with how our guys came out and competed,” Coal City coach Francis Loughran said. “The last couple of years in this game, we haven’t really competed like that, so that was good to see. It’s hard to stop a team with the big-play capability of Morris. Our goal was to give ourselves a chance in the fourth quarter, and we had it to a one-possession game after the punt return.

“Give Morris credit, though. They came out and played well in the fourth quarter.”

Coal City had to use sophomore quarterback Matthew Crichton in the second half after starter Zander Meents was injured on the final play of the first half. Morris picked off Crichton twice in the fourth quarter to help seal the win.

“The ceiling for this team is very high,” Thorson said. “There is a lot of potential. We need to stop shooting ourselves in the foot and play a lot cleaner, both physically and mentally.”