The culmination of a week’s Homecoming festivities began on E. M. “Bud” Cole Field, as the Morrison High School Ponies took the field against the once-beaten Orion, IL, Chargers’ Fresh-Soph team. Orion was sent home with their second loss of the season. The final Homecoming score was Morrison Ponies 34, Orion Chargers 14.
Scoring started on the first possession by the Chargers, as they recovered an onside kick at their own 40-yard line. Sam West grabbed a quick 11 yards on the first snap. That was followed by a 30-yard pass completion from Damion Zurcher to Logan Lee and another Zurcher pass to Noah Anderson for seven yards. The ball was resting on the Morrison 12-yard line. Five plays later, West crossed the goal to open the scoring, and Orion led 7-0. It didn’t take Morrison long to retaliate; Aaron Deter returned the ensuing kick off from the 1-yard line to the 44. The first handoff to Nathan Bush went for 13. The second handoff to Tristen DeMay totaled another eight yards. The third handoff was to Deter, and he rounded left end for a 35-yard rumble and six points. With 5:51 left in the opening quarter, it was Orion 7, Morrison 6. The quarter ended with Orion resting on the midfield stripe.
Morrison recovered a third down fumble to start the second quarter action on the Orion 48-yard line. They could only garnish one first down, before turning the ball over on a failed fourth-and-one on the 21-yard line. Deter fell on the first play fumble by the Chargers, and the Ponies were galloping again from the 29-yard line. Seven plays later Bush scored from the 2-yard line, and the Ponies led 12-7. The two-point conversion was good, when quarterback Reilly Dolan connected with Zach Cartwright, to up the score to 14-7 with 2:51 left in the half. Orion returned to the passing game to quickly respond. They needed only one minute and 29 seconds to even the score, by moving 61 of the 70 yards to the goal line via the pass. They scored on a 30-yard completion from Zurcher to Lee, and the half ended all tied at 14.
Halftime adjustments were effective. The Orion offense was allowed only 19 yards the entire second half. The half didn’t begin as planned–Jacob Schlegel fumbled the opening kick off ,and it was recovered by Orion on the Morrison 44-yard line. The Ponies’ defense stuffed the Chargers on three downs and stopped a fourth-and-one, to regain the possession on their own 36-yard line. The Ponies reached deep into the play book and called an end around reverse. A handoff to Deter was transferred to Grant Slater going the opposite way and resulted in an 11-yard gain, to alert the defense that the Ponies were taking over in the second half. The reverse was followed by a 12-yard gain by Bush and a 10-yarder by Schlegel. The combination of Schlegel, Bush, and Deter moved the Ponies to another score. Bush bulled over from the 8-yard line, to take the lead 20-14 with 4:15 left in the third quarter. The Ponies’ defense smothered the Chargers on the following possession. Grant Slater sacked the quarterback for a 12-yard loss. That play was followed by a Dolan interception at the Morrison 41-yard line and returned back to the Orion 7-yard line. The Ponies were stampeding again. Four snaps later, Dolan sneaked into the end zone from the 1-yard line, and the quarter ended with Morrison up 28-14.
Orion opened the final quarter with a fake punt after being unable to penetrate the fired-up Pony defense. It failed, and Morrison took possession at the Orion 45-yard line. Again relying on the running of Bush and Schlegel, the Ponies needed ten plays before Schlegel scored from the 5-yard line. The final score was formed with 2:48 remaining. The night ended for the Chargers with good defensive plays by Bush and Brevin Pruis stopping their final possession.