Friday night, August 28, welcomed the opening of the 2015 football campaign. Optimism was guarded, due to the attention given to the lower number of players reporting. Regardless of the number, the Morrison Mustangs took the field with the Mustang pride that envelopes the red and blue. The Morrison version of Friday Night Lights was launched.
The game statistics were as close as the action. Kewanee collected 282 total yards of offense (108 rushing/174 passing), compared to Morrison’s 286 (254 rushing/32 passing.) Andy Bird led all rushers with 119 yards, followed by Dylan Keller with 46 yards.
The Mustangs will take their efforts to Princeton, IL, next week, with a 5:30 p.m. start for the Fresh-Soph game.
The visiting Kewanee Boilermakers took the opening kickoff from their own 16-yard line and reeled off a 40-yard pass completion on the opening snap. Two plays later, they went to the air again for 12 more yards and followed that with a 15-yard scamper by speedster Lewis Robinson. They were first-and-ten on the Morrison 14-yard line. At this point the Mustang said, “Enough.” Three plays later they stopped the Boilers on the 11-yard line on a fourth-and-seven, to take over on downs. Nineteen snaps later and with 0:06 on the first quarter clock, the Mustang crossed the goal line, with a three-yard plunge by Cody Southern and an extra point kick by Justin Jansen. The quarter ended with a Morrison lead of 7-0.
The second quarter opened like the first, with a Zach Brown 46-yard run and a 12-yard pass completion. Five snaps later, Brown pulled in a 24-yard pass and skirted the sideline into the end zone, to tie the score at 7-7 with 7:38 remaining in the half. The half concluded after a Morrison three-and-out and a Kewanee possession, ending the half on the Morrison 39-yard line. The stats echoed the score. Kewanee recorded 149 yards in the air and 17 on the ground. Morrison earned just the reverse, at 103 yards on the ground and 0 yards via the pass.
Coach Cory Bielema had been quoted as stating that one of the keys to a Morrison win would be their ability to control the clock. The third quarter was a prime example of just that. They only allowed Kewanee the ball for one minute and 36 seconds of the quarter and took temporary control of the scoreboard. Their first possession was a 12-play, 69-yard drive, ending with an Andy Bird 2-yard plunge into the end zone. The drive included a nine-yard pass completion from Dylan Keller to Ryan VanZuiden and a 22 yarder from Keller to Jansen. With 7:40 left in the quarter the Mustangs owned a 14-7 advantage. Following a Kewanee three-and-out, the Mustangs again found the end zone. Nine running plays covered 60 yards, ending with a Southern 1-yard dive for six. On the scoring play Kewanee was flagged, and the extra point attempt was moved to the 1.5-yard line–at which time the Mustangs decided to “go-for-two.” A well-executed roll-out by Keller found Jansen open in the end zone, but, unfortunately, he made the catch and then dropped the ball, to hold the score at 20-7. On the ensuing kickoff, Robinson scampered down the right sideline and returned the kickoff to the Morrison 29-yard line. Two snaps later Brown covered the final 29 yards to close the score and the quarter at 20-13.
The fourth quarter started with a Mustang three-and-out and Kewanee generating an eight-play, 60-yard scoring drive. It included another Brown run of 26 yards; with 6:54 on the clock, the game was knotted at 20. Morrison retained the ball after a booming kickoff and touchback. They knew what they had to do: control the clock, march 80 yards, and score, and that they did! With the aid of 15-yard run up the middle by Bird and two Keller keepers, for 21 and 15 yards, the Mustangs found themselves with a fourth-and-goal at the one-yard line with 1:21 on the clock. The tense crowd waited as Jansen lined up to kick a field goal from the 14-yard line. Instead the snap went directly to Jansen, who rolled to his left and flipped a pass over the middle to a wide-open Keller for six. Jansen‘s extra point kick failed, and the Mustangs had 1:14 to protect a victory.
Robinson took the Morrison kickoff at the 24-yard line and started up the right side line. A Morrison tackler was called for “horse-collaring” on the tackle. That penalty placed the ball on the Morrison 41-yard line with 65 seconds on the clock. The Kewanee drive started with them having no timeouts remaining. The first snap went for 15 yards to the 26 yard-line with 19.6 seconds remaining. A Robinson catch moved the ball to the 11-yard line, and two incomplete passes moved the clock to 3.7 seconds. The last call by the Boilermakers was a short pass over the left tackle, which was caught at the two yard line. Play was stopped from entering the end zone by the Morrison defense, when the ball was flipped to a standing teammate. He advanced the ball the final two yards to the end zone. The game was tied at 26 with the clock reading 00:00. The extra point just cleared the bar. The Morrison players fell to the ground in disappointment. The Boilermakers left town with a 27-26 exciting opening season victory.