The Morrison Mustangs returned to Princeton, IL, High School for the second straight night, after having the Friday, August 29, 2014, night game canceled due to continuous lightning strikes. With a beautiful sky and 83° weather, the game to open the 2014 football season kicked off at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, August 30.
The Princeton Tigers took the opening kickoff and executed a 13-play drive that ended in a failed 33-yard field goal, but ate over six minutes off the clock. Morrison took over on the Princeton 21-yard line and could only gain one-yard on three plays. The team returned the possession to the Tigers on a Mason Sitzmore punt. The Tigers used the rest of the first quarter in moving to the nine-yard line, before the Mustangs stopped them on a fourth-and-one to take over on downs and end the quarter with a total of three yards of offense against the 94 yards gained against the Mustang defense.
The story of the game was written in the second quarter. The Mustangs had the ball on five possessions and turned it over with two fumbles and an interception on the first three possessions. The Tigers scored on every opportunity of ball ownership in the quarter. The first fumble resulted in a three-play drive covering 24-yards at the 9:55 mark. The second turnover resulted when a Sitzmore pass fell into the hands of Levi Bates at the 45-yard line. Again, the Tigers needed only three plays to cover the distance to their second touchdown and led 14-0 with 8:19 on the clock. Following the Tiger kickoff, Triston Houzenga fumbled after catching a Sitzmore pass at the 44-yard line on the second snap of the possession. The drive to the third Tiger score took six plays and only two minutes off the clock; the Mustangs had handed the Tigers a 20-0 lead with 5:34 left in the half. The Tiger’s fourth possession of the period saw them travel 73 yards on seven plays, that ended in scoring on a 25-yard pass from Scott Reinhardt to Levi Bates, with 48 seconds remaining in the half. The Tigers mounted 256 offensive yards in the first half, while the shocked Mustangs were only able to gain 37 total yards and go in at the half down 28-0.
The turnover bug bit the Mustangs again in the third period. Their opening ten-play drive ended when Andy Bird fumbled the ball after catching a Sitzmore pass, and it was recovered by the Tigers on the Morison 36-yard line. Following an 11-play drive, Princeton turned the ball over on downs at the Princeton 23 yard line, but the Mustangs were crippled on their next possession. A high snap on third down caused a 17-yard loss and forced the Mustangs to punt away their last possession of the third period. The third period saw the Mustang defense keep the Tigers out of the end zone, but the Morrison offense could only generate 22 total yards in the period.
During the final stanza, the Mustangs were able to generate a scoring drive that totaled 85 yards, with Mason Sitzmore connecting on five-of-seven passes and finally scoring on an 11-yard completion to Triston Houzenga, with 5:32 left in the game. Justin Rodriquez kicked the extra point, and some of the embarrassment of the day was relieved by finding the end zone. The game ended with the Tigers finding the end zone again with 16.6 seconds left in the game. They had marched 48 yards following the Mustang kickoff, to end the game with a rare Tiger win 34-7.
The final stats revealed a complete dominance by the Tigers. Their offense totaled 380 yards, compared to the Mustangs’ total for the day of 130 yards. Princeton’s Jacob Smith totaled 109 yards rushing in 27 carries to highlight the Princeton offense.
Morrison will return to the gridiron with a home game against Orion, IL, on Friday night, September 5, at E. M.(Bud) Cole field in Morrison, IL. The Morrison Ponies begin their game at 5:30 p.m., and the Mustangs take the field at approximately 7:30 p.m.