For the second Friday night of the new season, September 5, 2014, the Morrison Ponies had to compete against the weather to get onto the field. A lightning sighting at five o’clock delayed the team’s warming up on the field. The referees waited for the area to clear to start the game at 6:00 p.m. and shortened the quarters to eight minutes each, in an effort to not run the varsity game later into the night, with last week’s rescheduling fresh on the Administration’s mind.
Morrison received the opening kickoff and started action on their own 24-yard line. The 13-play drive was highlighted with a 20-yard pass completion from quarterback Dylan Keller to Ben Brackemyer on the third play from scrimmage. Ten plays later and with no time left on the first quarter clock, Brackemyer carried the ball for the last eight yards, earning the first Pony score of the 2014 season. The extra point failed, and the quarter ended without Orion, IL, Chargers touchng the ball and Morrison leading 6-0.
The second quarter was a reverse of the first. The Ponies netted a negative-five yards, and the Chargers were successful with a 39-yard drive, ending in a score at the 2:30 mark of the first half to tie the game at 6-6.
Orion was unsuccessful with the ball after the break, and the Ponies used their first possession of the half to march 56 yards for a score. Ben Brackemyer collected 40 of those yards in a gallop around right end, before he was downed at the 16-yard line. Cody Southern finished the drive in the end zone three plays later, to up the Pony margin to 12-6 with 4:05 left in the period. Orion turned the ball over on downs on their next possession. The Ponies needed only two snaps to find the end zone again, thanks to a 57-yard run byTristan DeMay, as he cut through right tackle and outran the pursuing Chargers to stretch the Pony lead to 20-6 to end the thrd quarter.
The fourth quarter contnued to expose the Ponies’ strengths. Aaron Deter punished a few tacklers before he broke out of the pile and rumbled 31 yards for another Pony score at the 5:24 mark, to end the scoring and seal the Ponies’ first Conference win at 28-6.
The Ponies outgained the Chargers by a 238 to 137 margin in total yards in the time-shortened game, but this gave the young Ponies a chance to feel sucess and start the season off on a positive note.