The Morrison Ponies started a football season exactly the way a coach dreams–with a convincing win at home. The Ponies controlled the Boilermakers from Kewanee and rolled to a 34-8 opening season victory, on Friday, August 28, 2015.
Game highlights focus on the running of Nathan Bush (122 yards), Aaron Deter (84 yards), Tristan DeMay ( 46 yards/4 TD’s), Sebastian Larson (28 yards He never played a down of football prior to tonight.) and, of course, the Pony defensive effort.
The Ponies will take their 1-0 record to Princeton, IL, next Friday evening, starting at 5:30 p.m.
Kewanee opened the action with a drive starting on the 37-yard line and ended it two yards further back with a fourth down punt. Morrison’s opening possession began on their own 31-yard line. Eight plays later DeMay scampered 21 yards to initiate the season’s scoring. The drive included Deter powering for runs of 14 and 19 yards. With 4:15 left in the quarter the score opened at 6-0 in favor of Morrison. Kewanee’s second possession ended on the third snap, when Zach Cartwright recovered a fumble on the Kewanee 46-yard line. The Ponies were out of the gate again.
The first snap of the second quarter saw DeMay expand the score to 12-0 with a three-yard plunge. Kewanee followed the Morrison score with a three-and-out and a poor punt which gave the Ponies a first down on the Kewanee 35-yard line. This series featured the only pass of the evening from quarterback Reilly Dolan as he found Grant Slater on a 14-yard completion. Three plays later, DeMay scored again from the six-yard line; the advantage moved to 18-0 with 5:18 left in the half. The next Kewanee series netted a minus-11 yards, before the Ponies ended the half with an 8-play, 38-yard scoring drive. It ended with a DeMay score from the five-yard line. The half ended at 25-0. The lop-sided stats paralleled the score, as the Morrison Ponies gained 166 total offensive yards, to the Boilermakers’ total of minus-2 yards.
The second half saw no relief for the visitors. The Ponies opened the third quarter with a 60-yard drive, featuring a 14-yard run by Bush and contributing gains from Deter, DeMay, Bush, Jacob Schlegel, and transfer student Larson. Schlegel scored his first high school touchdown with a 10-yard run, to enlarge the deficit to 32-0. A two point attempt was good, to end the Ponies’ scoring for the evening at 34. The Boilers were able to prevent the shutout, with a 67-yard run at the 5:41 mark of the fourth quarter and establish the final 34-8 score.