No Highlight Films Tonight
By Jerry Lindsey
The Morrison Mustangs traveled to Orion with a solid victory on the resume and anticipated a completive game on a perfect Friday evening weather wise. However, the evening could not have gone any worse than the 50-0 shellacking the Mustangs received from the fired up Chargers.
If the opening drive was any indication of what was to follow, the Mustangs should have loaded the bus and saved some of the pain. After receiving the opening kickoff at the 33-yard line, the Mustangs were punting three plays later with only one yard of offense gained on the series. Orion immediately went to the air as Blake Matson connected with Cody Hutcherson for a35-yard pass completion to the 17-yard line. The defense held on the next three snaps and the Chargers kicked a 22-ard field goal to start the scoring with 9:14 left in the quarter.
Following a three and out for Morrison, the Chargers needed ten plays to cover 85-yards and ran the score to 10-0 with a fourteen yard pass from Matson to Josh Ellison. This pattern held true again as the Mustangs were unable to own a first down and set the Chargers up on their own 38-yard line with 3:18 left in the quarter. A nine play drive highlighted by a Matson to Austin Engstrom pass of 22 yards and the Chargers led 15-0 with only .38 seconds left in the quarter. With 35 seconds left in the quarter, Joey Brackemyer found Ryan Mayberry open in the flat and completed a 41-yard pass that ended on Orion’s 26-yard line. Brackemyer connected again with Bennett Klima on the opening play of quarter two and the Mustangs were first and ten on the Orion ten yard line. The drive ended three snaps later as Brackemyer attempted a quarterback sneak from the one, but his knee touched down before he crossed the goal and the possession ended on the ½ foot-line without a score. After exchanging possessions, Orion generated 33-yard drive that ended with a 2-yard touchdown by Jacob DeVolder and the score moved to 23-0 with 2:31 left in the half. Orion crossed the goal line again with only 24.4 seconds left in the half as Matson found Jacob Edmonds in the corner of the end zone and the half time score was an embarrassing 30-0. The Mustangs were able to generate only 11-yards rushing in the first half combined with 74-yards in the air while the Chargers were mounting up 117-yards on the ground and 154 yards in the air.
The third quarter was much of the same, as the Mustangs were able to mass only 11 total offensive yards in two possessions and the Chargers rolled on with 89 yards of offense and two more touchdowns to hike the total to 44-0 after three periods. To add to the frustrations of the evening, the Mustangs lost quarterback Joey Brackemyer for the remainder of the game to a later determined concussion.
The final quarter started with a punt by Morrison that placed the Chargers on Morrison’s 48-yard line. On the first snap, Engstrom darted straight up field untouched for a 48-yard touchdown to form the final score of 50-0.
The final statistics reflex the dominance of the Chargers as they ended with 227 yards rushing and 192 yards passing compared to the Mustangs 32 yards on the ground and 75 yards in the air.
The Mustangs will take the field again next week (September 13) against the Fulton Steamers in the “Wooden Shoe Bowl” at Morrison and see if they can shed the memories of their nightmare in Orion.