Another cool night for football greeted the crowd at Roscoe Eades Stadium, as the Newman Central Catholic Comets hosted the Morrison Mustangs in Sterling, IL. Many fans remember the tough rivalry games that existed between 2008 and 2012. They recalled specific plays that turned the outcome and propelled the winner towards State titles. The Saturday night matchup on September 10, 2016, was not a game of that caliber. Tthe Comets completely dominated the Mustangs and sent them west with a 40-0 defeat.
The Comets owned first possession and executed a 13-play rushing drive, but they had to punt after earning four first downs. That positioned the Mustangs on their own nine yard line. A penalty and a bad snap forced a Mustang punt. Newman went three-and-out, and Morrison did the same before Eli Leffelman returned Ethan Fischbach’s punt 54 yards. Leffelman was forced out of bounds on the one yard line to end the quarter.
The second quarter opened with a one yard plunge followed by Landon Vesley’s two-point conversion, giving Newman the lead 8-0. The Mustangs couldn’t generate any offense in the second quarter. Two possessions ended with Easton Bianchi interceptions; another ended when Tristan Demay fumbled a kickoff return on the Morrison 10 yard line. The Mustang failed to earn a first down in the half. On the other side of the ball, Newman used big plays to advance their lead. Leffleman scampered 30 yards to up the score to 14-0, and Vesley skirted right end for a 29-yard touchdown, to up the lead to 21-0. The Demay fumble was followed by a 3-yard Leffleman dive, with only 24 seconds left in the half, opening intermission with the Comets up 30-0.
Newman’s first possession of the second half ended in a touchdown after a 50-yard drive and a Vesley two-point-conversion. The score rose to 38-0 with 8:26 left in the third quarter. Reilly Dolan replaced Dylan Keller at quarterback for the Mustangs and threw an interception on his first snap. Following a Comet punt, the Mustangs took possession on their own 5 yard line. Two penalties and two snaps later, Dolan was sacked in the end zone for a safety. This changed the score to 40-0 and activated the continuous running clock, for the remainder of the game.
The fourth quarter slipped by quickly, with Newman running ten consecutive running plays. Morrison earned their first first-down of the game at the 10:51 mark, on a 34-yard pass completion from Dolan to Nick Klimson.
The final statistics fully reveal the Comet dominance. Mustangs only generated 28 yards rushing and 37 passing (34 yards on the one catch by Klimson.) Newman collected 270 rushing yards, as they recorded a 40-0 win over the Mustangs.