Morris gets physical: ‘Do you know how hard your kids are hitting?’

MORRIS – Coach Alan Thorson gave his Morris team an instruction before Saturday night’s 35-14 Class 5A quarterfinal win over Mahomet-Seymour.

“The last thing that was written on our board in the locker room, and the last thing we talked about before we came out to the field was, ‘Make this the most physical game you have ever played.’

“During the game, the refs asked me, ‘Do you know how hard your kids are hitting?’ So I guess the kids took that to heart. It’s hard to know where to start to talk about this game. Every unit played great.”

Morris was indeed physical on both sides of the ball, no doubt inspired by the words on the locker room board.

They set the tone for the game early, as Morris won the coin toss and elected to receive the opening kickoff. Matt Stark returned the kick 22 yards to the Morris 28, then a personal foul on the Bulldogs after the play moved it to the Morris 43.

Morris ran the ball on its first 11 plays – with running backs Ashton Yard, Jacob Swartz and Sam Reddinger following an offensive line of Justin Newman, Aidan King, Justin Hemmersbach, Nick Perry and Mason Stapleton that averages about 290 pounds – to reach the Bulldogs’ 8-yard line. There, quarterback Carter Button found receiver A.J. Zweeres in the left corner of the end zone for a touchdown.

Then it was time for the defense to get into the act.

On the ensuing kickoff Morris forced a fumble, but Mahomet-Seymour return man Donnavan Lewis recovered his own drop. On the Bulldogs’ first play from scrimmage, running back Lucas Johnson was hit hard and fumbled. This time the ball bounced right to Zweeres, who fell on it at the Mahomet-Seymour 30.

Morris turned that turnover into a touchdown when Button hit Zweeres again, this time from 23 yards out on 4th-and-3, and went ahead 14-0 with 3:49 left in the first quarter.

Even with the potent Mahomet-Seymour offense, which scored on its next two possessions, the two-touchdown deficit was too much for the Bulldogs to overcome.

Morris took a 21-14 lead into halftime, which could have been bigger had they not lost a fumble inside the Mahomet-Seymour 10 and had a field goal at the end of the half bounce off the right upright.

One of the main weapons all season for Mahomet-Seymour had been receiver Quenton Rogers. Rogers did score a pair of touchdowns while taking a direct snap from the Wildcat formation, but as a receiver he caught one pass for 18 yards, a bubble screen he caught at the line of scrimmage. Morris cornerback Broc Grogan played tight coverage on Rogers, who entered with 58 receptions for 1,124 yards in the first 11 games, and did not allow him a reception down field all game.

“I was physical with him at the line,” Grogan said. “I didn’t want him to even get into his route. As the game went on, my confidence kept going up. All I heard all week was how good No. 5 [Rogers] is. No. 5, No. 5.

“I pretty much get to cover the other team’s best receiver every week. I enjoy getting the dog coverage like that. I had him at the line, and we had [safety] A.J. [Zweeres] helping out over the top on him. He caught that one screen pass, but he didn’t get anything down the field. He was pretty frustrated by the end of the game.”

Morris consistently came up with big plays on defense, as Zweeres had an interception to go with his fumble recovery, and Luke Brown added an interception. Daniel Spencer had a sack as well.

Early in the fourth quarter, Mahomet-Seymour trailed 28-14 and faced 4th-and-4 from the Morris 37. Quarterback Wyatt Bohm was under pressure but escaped, and it looked like he had the angle to get the first down. Reddinger closed quickly, however, and stopped Bohm for a 1-yard gain and a turnover on downs.

Morris then went into the T formation and drove 63 yards on 13 plays, all runs, with Reddinger scoring the game’s final TD with 3:26 left as Morris ate 7:50 off the clock.

“Sometimes people see that offense and think it’s boring football,” said Hemmersbach, a four-year starter. “We love it on the offensive line, though. It’s just knowing that you have to beat the guy in front of you and be more physical than him.

“That’s Morris football.”

It certainly was Saturday night.