The Morrison Mustangs journeyed to conference rival Erie-Prophetstown to be part of their Homecoming festivities and came away with a painful defeat as the Panthers rallied with twenty-one unanswered points to top the Mustangs 29-28.
Morrison received the opening kickoff as Danny Willis returned it 27 yards to the 47 yard line. Four snaps later and only less than three minutes off the clock, Willis took the hand off and scampered around left end and eluded tacklers at the thirteen yard line and ended up in the end zone to open the scoring. Alex Volckmann ran the extra point conversion and the Mustangs were on the scoreboard 8-0 with 9:18 on the first quarter clock.
The Panthers featured the fifth ranked ground gainer in the area at fullback in Zach Inskeep and he immediately showed the Homecoming crowd his abilities. He was given the hand off on eleven of the next fifteen running plays and consistently gained against the much celebrated Morrison defense. With 1:39 on the clock, Inskeep bulled over the end line to make the score 8-6 before Ethan Howard converted the extra point to tie the Mustangs at 8.
The Mustangs didn’t waste any time in their retaliation as they marched 69-yards on their next possession to regain the lead at 14-6. Volckmann’s 23-yard run on third and seven was a key to the successful drive. Morrison made a few defensive adjustments and forced the Panthers to punt after only gaining two yards in their next series. Willis returned the Panther punt to the Panther’s 25-yard line and Volckmann ran the final four yards of a four play series to up the Mustang lead to 20-8. Again, the Mustangs defense only allowed Inskeep one yard in two carries and forced another punt to return the ball to the Mustangs with 2:23 left in the half. The Panther offense was held to only seven total yards in the second quarter and the Mustangs were feeling confident that their adjustments had worked and went into half with a 20-8 lead.
The Erie-Prophetstown Panthers came out the second half with a little fire and Inskeep immediately gained thirteen yards in his first three carries. On the four snap of the half, quarterback Howard pitched to Kyle Pannier and he was unable to secure the pigskin and fumbled it into the arms of Danny Willis on the 32-yard line. Wilkens ran a quarterback keeper for 12 yards and Willis cut off tackle for another 13-yards and the Mustangs were first and goal on the seven yard line when Wilkens finished the drive with a quarterback draw and the score moved to 26-8 with 8:53 left in the third quarter. Wilkens flipped a pass to Willis on the point after conversion to make the score 28-8 and the Mustangs were feeling a little more comfortable
Anyone that thought this game was in the bag would definitely receive a rude awakening in the action that followed. E-P started their next series on the twenty-yard line with a 12-yard pitch to Ian Franks and a six yard run by Chris Bauer before Franks beat everyone to the outside and raced the right sideline before Brock Deter caught him at the one-yard line. Inskeep finished the drive and put the Panthers only two touchdowns behind with a lot of time remaining.
Alex Weeks returned the ensuing kickoff to the 40-yard line and the offense was ready to retake control of this game. Willis had two nine yards runs before Wilkens was thrown for a twelve yard loss by the Panther’s Kyle Coleman. Wilkens missed Volckmann on a third and long following the sack and the Mustangs were forced to punt from their own 48-yard line. To everyone’s surprise, Willis’ punt was blocked and rolled toward the sideline when Kyle Coleman picked it up ran it in for a touchdown with 3:56 left in the third period and the Panthers only trailed by six..28-22.
The frustrated Morrison defense was called for a personal foul on the kickoff and started the next possession on their own 20 yard line. The Panther defense was now reacting to the energy generated by the two scores and forced Morrison to punt after gaining only three yards in three plays to end the quarter.
The fourth quarter saw each team have possession twice and were unable to move the ball enough to move the chains and the final possession went to E-P with 4:21 left in regulation play. The scene was set on the battlefield and it was Mr. Inskeep versus a stalwart Mustang defense. On a fourth and five, Inskeep gained six to the Morrison 32 yard line with 2:47 left. Inskeep gained six before Ian Franks scampered the right side for fifteen yards and the ball was on the Morrison six yard line with 0:50 on the clock. Again, Inskeep gained five and with 23.7 seconds left in regulation, the game was tied when Inskeep dove in from the one-yard line. Tied at 28, E-P called a timeout to discuss their options. They chose to kick the extra point and it was perfect and the upset was unfolding to the entire Mustang’s fan’s disbelief.
It appeared that the Mustangs would have maybe two more snaps to try to salvage this game, but the Panthers executed an on-side kick and recovered the kickoff and it was all over. Final score: Erie –Prophetstown 29 Morrison 28.
The statistics revealed how close the game really was as Erie-Prophetstown gained 210 yards (122 yards gained by Zach Inskeep on 28 carries) on the ground against the Mustang’s 196 and neither team completed a pass the entire evening. Danny Willis led the Morrison ground game with 84-yards and was followed by Volckmann with 50 yards.