Sycamore defense stymies Morris, claims conference crown and perfect regular season

SYCAMORE – Sycamore wasn’t going to let Morris’ turnovers go to waste, and because of it the Spartans are conference champs.

Sycamore converted two first-half Morris turnovers into 14 points in a 28-0 win, claiming the Kishwaukee River/Interstate 8 White title.

The win avenges a Week 9 loss last year, which gave Morris the league title. In this year’s battle of teams unbeaten in conference play, Sycamore won the game and the title, finishing undefeated in the regular season.

“We’ve been working at it all week,” said linebacker Kiefer Tarnoki, who recovered a Morris fumble in the red zone, snuffing out a scoring opportunity. “Like I said earlier this week, the people who played in the Morris game last year remembered a little bit of it and brought it into this game. We showed that even though people doubted us, we’re going to pull through and keep working, and it will eventually come through with a win.”

In addition to Tarnoki’s fumble recovery, Joey Puleo grabbed an interception. Both resulted in touchdowns for the Spartans. Kaden Ladas also had a late fumble recovery in the fourth quarter.

Already up 21-0 at the break, thanks in part to two turnovers, the Spartans (9-0, 6-0 KRC/I8 White) added a 1-yard run by Dawson Alexander in the third to push the lead to 28-0 against Morris (7-2, 5-1).

It helped cement the win and the Spartans’ first 9-0 regular season since 2013 – they were 6-0 in the COVID-19-shortened spring 2021 season.

“It’s a great feeling because that’s a lot of hard work,” Sycamore coach Joe Ryan said. “It’s not easy to go 9-0 in a season. This is only our second time. That’s a good opponent we shut out tonight, and that’s not easy. They’re a really good team, and we just played really well tonight.”

Morris’ two losses came against teams that went undefeated in the regular season, having lost earlier in the year to Richmond-Burton.

“Our program is well past the point of moral [victories],” Morris coach Alan Thorson said. “Losing is unacceptable to us, but we do understand the competition we lost to was two 9-0 teams. We’re going to learn from it and get better next week.”

Sycamore scored on its final three possessions of the first half after a three-and-out to start the game. Morris had a couple first down on its first two possessions, but the Spartans put together the game’s first scoring drive, capped on a 10-yard run by Zack Crawford.

Morris put together a drive looking to answer, combining a couple of runs with a personal foul on Sycamore, to get into Spartans territory. But Carter Button was intercepted by Puleo, and six plays later Sycamore had built a 14-0 lead when Tyler Curtis leaped into the end zone from a yard out.

Morris followed with its longest drive of the half, marching down to the Sycamore 12 behind a 33-yard run from Button. But on a third and 6, Button fumbled and Tarnoki recovered.

Thorson called the fumble a momentum killer.

“They think they’re driving down the field, then all of a sudden a turnover hits them,” Tarnoki said. “Then they’re down and all that because they went all the way down the field and then fumbled. We turn it into points, and it’s just a punch in the gut for them.”

Sycamore followed with its third scoring drive, converting a third-and-4 on an 11-yard run by quarterback Eli Meier, then Meier found Addison Peck for a 33-yard reception, setting up a 1-yard run by Crawford and a 21-0 lead just before halftime.

Morris managed only 42 yards of offense in the second half and 182 for the game. The Spartans amassed 367 yards, including 267 behind a balanced ground attack. Five rushers had at least 40 yards, with Curtis leading the way with 66 yards on 18 carries. Meier completed half of his 10 passes for 100 yards.

Ashton Yard ran 10 times for 57 yards for Morris, while Button was 8 for 17 with an interception for 51 yards.

“I thought we played terrible, but that’s a lot of credit to a very good Sycamore team,” Thorson said. “Their kids played extremely well and did what they needed to do to win. You can’t turn the ball over once in a game like this, let alone three or whatever we had.”