When a team is 0-3 on the season and faced with playing the number one team in the state, everything must go their way. There was no room for error if teh Musatangs consider having any chance of being competitive. That is the situation the Morrison Mustangs found themselves in Friday night, September 19, 2014, when they welcomed the Newman Central Catholic Comets who are currently ranked as the number one team in the IHSA 2A division.
The Mustangs opened their first possession on their own 30 yard-line when Andy Bird gained a quick ten yards on the first hand-off. Quarterback Joey Brackemyer missed on the next two passing attempts and the Mustangs were forced to punt to the dreaded offense of the visiting Newman Comets. The Comets needed on two plays and used on forty seconds to open the scoring with a 32-yard gallop by Brady Rude. Rude also converted the extra points and the Comets led 8-0 with 9:47 on the clock.
The Mustangs started their next drive on their own 20-yard-line, and after ten snaps they had advanced to the 41-yard line. but a quarterback sack and a quarterback fumble moved the ball back to the 33 and a fourth down forced a Mustang punt. The Comets again used three plays and 73 seconds to add another six points to the score. Dillan Heffelfinger broke tackles to scamper 20 yards into the end zone and make the score 14-0. Morrison ended the quarter with a ten-play possession that ended in turning the ball over on downs on the opening play of the second quarter. Newman used eight rushing plays to move the ball to the 38-yard-line, where Quarterback Logan Whitman connected to Hellelfinger in the left flat. He easily walked in for another score: Newman 22 Morrison 0.
The next Morrison possession was halted with a Brackemyer fumble. The Comets needed only one snap for Whitman to find Shayne Allen open over the middle and the score rolled to 30-0 with 5:21 left in the first half.
Another fumbled snap was part of the next Mustang possession and a failed fourth down pass gave the Comets one more possession with 3:45 left in the first half. With 1:35 on the first half clock Newman’s Nolan McGinn crossed the end line to enlarge the embarrassment to 36-0 as the first half closed.
The first half statistics favored Newman in rushing 144 yards to 6 for the Mustangs. The passing numbers favored Newman also as they completed two of three passes for 96 yards and Morrison connected on 7 of 14 for 56 yards. The Comets scored on all five possession of the first half.
The second half opened with much of the same dominance by the Comets. Brady Rude returned the opening kickoff from his own 15-yard-line to the Morrison 40-yard-line where he needed only two carries to finish the drive with a 34-yard run. Only one minute into the half and the Comets led 44-0.
The 40 point differentiation activated the “mercy clock,” which only stops for timeouts and injuries. Morrison started giving the freshman and sophomore players playing time as the clock rapidly moved to the quarter’s end. The clock couldn’t move fast enough, as McMinn broke tackles on his way to a 43-yard touchdown, before the third quarter ended with the Mustangs trailing 52-0. The Newman reserves pushed across another touchdown in the fourth quarter on a 31-yard run up the middle by Eli Monier. The Mustangs had one fourth-quarter possession and gained only two yards, before Newman kneed out four downs on the ten-yard line to end the game.
The final stats reinforced the dominance on the scoreboard. Newman outgained the Mustangs on the ground 325 yards to 14 yards and threw for 96 yards compared to the Mustangs’ 70 yards.
The Mustangs can only accept the loss and look forward to a week of Homecoming activities and anticipate a renewed effort against the Amboy Clippers next Friday night, September 26.
Final score: Morrison 0, Newman 59