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OTTAWA – As Ottawa senior quarterback Colby Mortenson tossed the ball to the official after his fourth rushing touchdown, he ran to his bench in front of the Ottawa student section chanting “MVP.”
Mortenson finished the Pirates’ 41-0 victory over rival Streator on Friday night at King Field with 79 yards rushing on nine carries and four TDs, while also completing 11 of 13 passes for 157 yards and another score.
To him, the Ottawa offensive line deserved the MVP chants most of all.
[ Photos: Streator vs Ottawa football Week 2 ]
“To be honest, our game plan wasn’t much different this week than it was last week against Plano,” said Mortenson, who scampered in from 10, 13, 14 and 22 yards. “We just had to play the way we are capable of, and I think we did that tonight. A couple of the touchdown runs were the same play, and the offensive line did an awesome job all game. They were the true MVP tonight if I had to choose one. They were really impressive. Shout out to the receivers as well, they ran all the right routes and the combination of them, and the O-line really made my job pretty easy tonight.
“I feel like we owed our fans, our supporters and our community a good win at home. Some of the past years haven’t been great, so it was nice to come out here tonight against our rival and play an all-around solid game that ended with a win.”
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It was the 102nd time the two programs have met on the football field, the first in 1894, with Ottawa now leading the all-times series 61-39-2.
“I’m really happy with how we played on both sides of the ball,” Ottawa head coach Chad Gross said, his squad holding a 21-0 lead at halftime on three of Mortenson’s scores and now 1-1 on the season. “On offense we moved the ball effectively and made plays when we needed to. Defensively I was super happy because a lot of what Streator does in their run game is what Plano did, so the adjustments we made form one week to another was night and day.
“[Streator senior] Benning is one of the best quarterbacks we’ll face this season, and I thought we did a great job of containing him. He’s a heck of a football player, but we did a good job of not letting him get loose on us.”
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Ottawa, which scored on its first five possessions, held a 416-246 advantage in total yards, with running back Ryder Miller posting 100 yards on 16 carries, Archer Cechowicz 46 on seven and Weston Averkamp 34 on three.
On the opening possession of the second half, Mortenson weaved through traffic for his fourth TD, then after the Bulldogs lost the ball on downs, the signal caller found Packston Miller on a slant for a 34-yard scoring pass.
Averkamp closed out the scoring with a 36-yard scamper with three minutes to play. Ottawa kicker Cam Loomis made good on five extra-point boots.
Benning finished with 45 yards on 14 carries and was 12-of-20 passing for 128 yards in the air. Isaiah Brown registered 40 yards on seven tries, and Jordan Lukes 31 on seven.
“Ottawa beat our butts tonight, no doubt about it,” Streator head coach Kyle Tutt said, his club now 1-1. “They were more physical on both sides of the ball, just moved people around, and just dominated the whole entire game. Credit them for an outstanding game.
“Ottawa’s line play was really good tonight, and we just didn’t have an answer for it. We tried some adjustments, but we just didn’t have good foot work and weren’t staying with our double teams. Ottawa was doing the exact opposite.”
Next week Ottawa hosts Harvard, while Streator is at Coal City.
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BOXSCORE
102nd all-time meeting
King Field, Ottawa
Ottawa 41, Streator 0
Streator (1-1) 0 0 0 0 — 0
Ottawa (1-1) 7 14 13 7 — 41
Scoring by quarter
First quarter
O — Colby Mortenson 13 run (Cam Loomis kick), 4:43, 7-0
Second quarter
O — Colby Mortenson 14 run (Cam Loomis kick), 5:57, 14-0
O — Colby Mortenson 10 run (Cam Loomis kick), :59.1, 21-0
Third quarter
O — Colby Mortenson 22 run (kick failed), 9:10, 27-0
O — Packston Miller 34 pass from Colby Mortenson (Cam Loomis kick), 6:02, 34-0
Fourth quarter
O — Weston Averkamp 36 run (Cam Loomis kick), 3:00, 41-0
Team statistics
Streator Ottawa
Total plays: 51 48
First downs: 13 19
Rushes-Yards: 30-118 35-259
Passing yards: 128 157
Total offense: 246 416
Comp-Att-Int.: 12-21-0 11-13-0
Third downs: 2-of-9 7-of-8
Fourth downs: 0-of-5 0-of-0
Fumbles-Lost: 0-0 1-0
Penalties-Yards: 9-69 11-90
Punts-Avg.: 1-32.0 0-0.0
Time of possession: 20:22 27:38
Individual statistics
RUSHING – Streator: Christian Benning 14-45, Isaiah Brown 7-40, Jordan Lukes 7-31, Isaiah Weibel 2-2. Ottawa: Ryder Miller 16-100, Colby Mortenson 9-79 (4 TD), Archer Cechowicz 7-46, Weston Averkamp 3-34 (TD).
PASSING (C-A-TD-INT-YD) – Streator: Christian Benning 12-20-0-0-128, Weibel 0-1-0-0-0. Ottawa: Colby Mortenson 11-13-1-0-157.
RECEIVING – Streator: Jake Hagie 3-64, Anthony Mohr 3-26, Isaiah Brown 3-24, Zach Schultz 2-8, Jordan Lukes 1-6. Ottawa: Packston Miller 4-65 (TD), Tristan Finley 3-35, Hayden Swett 1-37, Luke Boaz 1-13, Archer Cechowicz 1-9, Ryder Miller 1-(minus 2).