Class 5A: A.J. Zweeres’ game-opening 94-yard kickoff propels Morris past La Salle-Peru

MORRIS – Talk about a fabulous start to the postseason.

Morris junior A.J. Zweeres gathered in the opening kickoff from big-legged La Salle-Peru kicker Seth Adams at his own 6-yard line, built a head of steam behind his blockers, found a seam and raced 94 yards into the end zone to get things going right away for the home team in Morris’ 42-17, first-round Class 5A playoff win Friday over the visiting Cavaliers.

“All week we’ve been planning, we’ve been talking that we needed to come out hot, because this L-P team, if you let them, they’ll hang with you,” Zweeres said. “We chose to take the ball [during the pregame coin flip], and before the play we all said we were going to the house, and that’s what we did.

“It was nice blocking by every guy on the team, and it was there.”

It was a spectacular start ... although not an unusual one for a Morris team whose special teams have indeed been special much of the season.

“We always want the ball if we can get it in our hands to try to score early,” Morris coach Alan Thorson said, “We get somebody like A.J. back there, the guys up front really did an awesome job setting up the wall, and if you give him a little bit of room, he’s going to cause some problems.

“That was a great start.”

Much like the first time the Kishwaukee River/Interstate 8 Conference White foes met in Week 5 – a 49-7 Morris victory – the Cavaliers didn’t make things easy on Morris but couldn’t quite keep up with them, either. After forcing a punt on Morris’ second possession, the hosts scored touchdowns on five of their next seven possessions to pull away from L-P.

The winner of Saturday’s Centralia-Troy Triad game awaits Morris (8-2) in the second round, a game that will be played either in Centralia or Morris depending on Saturday’s victor.

La Salle-Peru’s season ends with a third consecutive playoff appearance and 5-5 record.

“[Morris] is a good football program,” L-P coach Jose Medina said. “They do what they do really well.

“This is a great group of young men we have that kept fighting through every single game whether we’re up or down or even down like this. They fight all four quarters, and I’m proud of them.

“We’ve been lucky to have been part of the playoff for the past three years. It’s a testament to the kids.”

While the Morris offense was churning up yards led by running backs Jacob Swartz (141 yards, two TDs) and Ashton Yard (107 yards, two TDs), quarterback Carter Button (7 for 11, 61 yards, one TD) and Zweeres (four receptions for 44 yards and a touchdown plus 21 yards rushing), the Morris defense was limiting La Salle-Peru to one first-half score. That came on Adams’ no-doubt-about-it 38-yard field goal shortly before halftime.

The Cavaliers gained a lot of yards late on their way to a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns – a 34-yard strike from Mason Lynch to Brendan Boudreau (three receptions for 100 yards) followed by a 1-yard sneak from Lynch (3 for 14, 100 yards passing; 117 yards rushing) – but for the game were outgained 378-284.

Broc Grogan had an interception and a pass defensed, Will Knapp and Gage Phillips each recorded two passes defensed, Jonah Williams and Sam Reddinger both notched quarterback sacks, and Ryan Wolenczuk recorded two tackles for loss to lead the Morris defensive effort.

“Our defense – our starting defense especially, it got a little sloppy at the end – played outstanding,” Thorson said.

Connor Lorden and Caleb Burrell each had TFLs for the L-P defense.

Morris led 14-0 after one quarter, 21-3 at halftime and 42-3 after the third.