When the Morrison Mustangs took the field on Friday, September 11, 2015, against the #1 ranked (3A) team in the State, they knew that each possession would have to be a near perfect one. The “grind it out” offense of the Newman High School Comets, aided by the running of potential All-Stater Brady Rude, would not allow the Mustangs any room for error. Unfortunately, the improving Mustangs were not able to to avoid miscues and also were unable to contain Mr. Rude. They fell to the Comets by the score of 30-8.
The opening drive by the Mustangs earned one first down before ending in a Justin Jansen punt. The Comets fumbled on their second snap, and Payton Cook recovered for Morrison on the Newman 42-yard line. Dylan Keller connected with Cook on the first play for an 8-yard gain. That was followed by a first down run by Cody Southern and the Mustangs were first-and-ten at the Newman 28-yard line. The drive ended two snaps later with a Tate Renkes fumble that was recovered by the Comets on the 30-yard line. The Comets did what they do so well, and that is grind out the yards and the time on the clock. They used 13 plays to move 70 yards to the end zone and took an 8-0 lead on a 2-yard push by Rude and an extra point conversion by the same #35. The drive was aided by a 22-yard pass completion from QB Logan Whitman to Junior Jacob Heiderscheidt.
The next Morrison possession ended the first quarter and took four minutes of the second. The drive included an 11-yard pass completion to Ryan VanZuiden, two Andy Bird runs of 14 and 15 yards. The Mustangs were first-and-ten on the Newman 12-yard line when the Comet defense held its ground. Bird gained two yards on first down. Keller was stopped when he rolled out, looking into the end zone for a receiver. The third down saw a scrambling Keller unable to connect. The series ended on the 9-yard line when a pass went off the fingertips of Andy Bird on the goal line. The Comets took over on downs at the 9-yard line with 8:01 left in the half.
Fourteen plays later with 1:57 left in the half, the Comets scored again on a Rude 4-yard dive. The score was set up when Rude took a pitch around the left end and cut back to the middle, to advance on a 32-yard scamper and set the Comets up first-and-goal at the 9-yard line. Rude followed the touchdown with a two-point conversion; the Comets led 16-0 with 1:57 left in the half. Morrison moved the ensuing possession to their 40-yard line with the help of a Newman penalty and an 11-yard pass completion from Keller to Cook. With 57.3 seconds remaining, Keller was intercepted on the 50-yard line. The Mustangs hoped to contain the Comets and go into the locker room only down by 16 points. The Comets gained nine and then threw two incomplete passes, before Rude earned a first down on the 33-yard line with an 8-yard gain. The clock read 12 seconds when Whitman connected with John Wilson in the end zone. A Rude conversion ended the first half with the Comets leading 24-0.
The first half held big plays for Newman and critical turnovers by the Mustangs, but the second half owned hope for the Mustangs, as they kicked off to the visitors to start the second half. Brady Rude doused the hopes of a resurgent effort by the Mustangs on the fifth snap of the half, when he broke tackles to gallop 47 yards and expand the score to 30-0. The only third quarter possession for the Mustangs ended with a failed fourth down attempt at midfield, to turn the ball over on downs with 3:34 left on quarter number three. Newman finished the quarter with possession, that eventually ended when they were stopped on a fourth down attempt on the Morrison 27-yard line. Morrison’s possession started with an errant snap from center that was retrieved on the 15-yard line, and the series ended two plays later with a punt by Jansen. Newman gained one first down, as many of the Fresh-Soph players were inserted to earn some Varsity experience. Their possession ended when QB Brysen Bartell overthrew John Ackert in the corner of the end zone. The Mustangs took over the ball on the 19-yard line. On first down, Sophomore Aaron Deter bullied for six yards, before Sophomore Nathan Bush squirted through the middle of the line and ran 75 yards for the only Morrison score of the evening. The drive was capped with a Reilly Dolan pass to Deter for the two-point conversion. Newman ran off the final 4:11 to take home a hard fought 30-8 win.
The Newman offense out-gained the Mustangs by a margin of 357 total yards to the Morrison 207. The Comet’s Brady Rude totaled 157 yards on the ground. Morrison yardage was highlighted by the Bush 75 yard score and Andy Bird‘s 61 yards.
The Mustangs will travel to Taylor Ridge, IL, next Friday, September 18, to challenge the Rockridge Rockets, with a Fresh-Soph kickoff at 5:30 p.m. and a Varsity game to follow.