The cool, blue skies opened the home season for the 2016 Morrison Football program, as they hosted a first-time home visitor from Princeton, IL, High School. The game wasn’t short of offense. Both teams amassed over 360 total yards on the evening.
The opening quarter saw the Morrison Ponies go three-and-out without gaining a yard. The Princeton Tigers marched 38 yards in five plays–that took only 25 second–to open the scoring on a 12-yard TD run by quarterback Beck Robbins. Quickly the score was 7-0. Morrison retaliated on their next possession by marching 75 yards on 11 plays. That featured a 35-yard pass completion from quarterback Jacob Schlegel to Jarrett Wiebenga that ended on the two-yard line. Riley Wilkens bullied the final two yards to tie the game with 1:19 left in the first quarter.
The Tigers’ first possession of the second quarter ended when Keagan Anderson recovered a Dallas Hill fumble on the Morrison four yard line, to stop a 60-yard drive. Wilkens, Anderson, and Brandon Zigler rushed the Ponies downfield to the Princeton 35-yard line. Anderson scampered right end to finish the drive with some electric running, to up the Ponies’ margin to 13-7, with 4:27 remaining in the half. The Tigers weren’t impressed with the Ponies’ drive. They rebounded immediately with a scoring drive covering 64 yards, headed by running up the middle by Dallas Hill. He found the endzone at the 2:05 mark to give Princeton a 14-13 advantage. Not to be outdone, the Ponies recovered a short kickoff and marched 40 yards to score, with 10.5 seconds left in the half. The 1-yard plunge by Schlegel was made possible by a Schlegel-to-Wiebenga pass that covered 33 yards. The Ponies left the field with a 19-14 halftime lead.
The third quarter action slowed. The Ponies scored on their only possession of the quarter, using four minutes to drive 70 yards, entering the endzone on a Schlegel-to-Anderson 10-yard pass completion. The drive success relied on up-the-middle power of Riley Wilkens and a 32-yard run by Anderson. The Morrison 25-14 lead didn’t stay on the scoreboard long. The young Tigers scored on the last play of the quarter, on a three-yard plunge by Jacob Edner. This ended the quarter with the Ponies owning a 27-21 advantage. 
The decisive fourth quarter started with Morrison using four minutes of the precious clock. The drive gave Morrison fans hope, after Schlegel and Wiebenga connected again for 41 yards. But the drive ended with a penalty on a fourth-and-six call. Princeton had six minutes and 63 yards to even or surpass the Ponies. They used the running of Hill, Edner, and Robbins, combined with a 40-yard pass completion from substitute quarterback Connor Dickens to Koel Hjertstedt. Princeton tied the score at 27 with only 45.1 seconds on the clock. Princeton’s Judson Wright calmly kicked the extra point, to edge the score to 28-27 in favor of the Tigers.
The ensuing kickoff eluded the Morrison deep backs and fell dead on the Princeton one yard line. That left the Ponies the challenge of traveling 99 yards in 43.2 seconds to rescue the night. Two incomplete passes deep to Wiebenga and a no-gainer by Anderson were followed by a 25-yard scramble by Schlegel that ended at the 19.8 seconds mark. The final play saw Schlegel scramble to find someone open. He eventually threw deep where three Morrison receivers couldn’t make the catch. The final clock ticked away to a 28-27 win by the Princeton Tigers.
The offensive numbers were almost identical as Morrison gained a total of 363 yards to Princeton’s 367 yards.
Princeton 7 – 7 – 7 – 7 = 28
Morrison 7 – 12 – 8 = 0 = 27
Offense:
Princeton: Rushing 289 yards D. Hill 133 yards
Passing: 6 for 8 = 78 yards
Morrison: Rushing 229 yards K. Anderson 105 yards, R. Wilkens 59 yards
Passing: 5 for 8 = 134 yards