2005 Year in Review

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Mustangs Cruise Past Warcats

The Morrison Mustangs sent a message on Saturday afternoon. Playing their first home playoff game since 1998, the Mustangs dominated the Warren-River Ridge Warcats to the tune of 517 rushing yards. The offensive line demolished the Warcats throughout the entire game. After the game, the offensive backfield cumulatively decided that this was the best game the line has played all year. The Mustangs wheeled off 26 second quarter points to pull away and cruise to a 54-22 victory.

The Mustangs quickly forced a three and out on the Warcats’ first possession and everything looked good when Sammy Biggs broke off a quick 26-yarder up the sideline on the first play from scrimmage. The Warcat defense stepped up on the next play when Ryan Schisler rolled left and finally threw back to the flats on the right, Josh Kostenbader broke in front of the ball and returned it 65 yards for a touchdown barely over a minute and a half into the game. Quarterback Mitch Toay used a quarterback draw to convert the two-point conversion and make it 8-0 Warcats.
Morrison took over from there running off 33 unanswered points. Warren-River Ridge knew they were in trouble from that point.
“After we returned that pick for a touchdown, I knew we were probably in trouble,” said Warcat coach Nathan Mullen, “ because they just said ‘Screw this, we’re running the ball.” And run they did. The Mustangs took off on a long drive with the offensive line of Shaun Vegter, Chris Scott, Zach Harridge, Dustin Vandermyde, and Adam Cook leading the way. The Mustangs worked the ball downfield gaining six first downs on the ground before Nick Vandermyde finally busted through the line for a five-yard touchdown run. Jorge Hernandez made the extra point and the Mustangs trailed 8-7 with 5:26 remaining in the first quarter.
The Warcats had some success moving the ball as Toay worked the ball around to his receivers, but the Mustangs finally forced the Warcats to turn the ball over on downs. The Mustangs controlled the ball for the final two minutes of the first quarter and the first minute and a half plus of the second quarter racking up five first downs including a crucial 11-yard pass from Schisler to Vandermyde on third and ten near midfield. The drive ended in Vandermyde’s hands again as he rumbled in from one-yard out to give the Mustangs a 13-8 lead. The two-point conversion failed freezing the lead at five.
Morrison would waste little time in getting the ball back, when Toay’s pass was intercepted by Vandermyde on the first play of the drive to give Morrison the ball on the Warcat side of the field. The drive lasted a little over five minutes with Morrison only picking up two first downs on this drive. Vandermyde highlighted the drive with back-to-back impressive runs of 19 and 20 yards right up the middle, before he finished the drive off with a 12-yard TD run. The two-point conversion failed and Morrison led 19-8.
The Warcats looked to be in good shape, when Toay found Anthony Rayhorn behind the Morrison secondary for a Warcat first down inside the red zone, but the Morrison defense stepped up on the next play. With Toay in the shotgun, the snapped bounced off his hands and Chris Scott pounced on it to give Morrison possession. Nate McBride started the drive with a pair of nice runs and Biggs added some more impressive runs before Schisler took it down the line and pitched just in time to Vandermyde who sprinted 32 yards to the end zone to put himself over the 100-yard mark with four minutes remaining in the first half. Hernandez made the extra point and the Mustangs led 26-8.
`Warren-River Ridge went quietly on their next drive as they went three and out and were forced to punt. As the punt was kicked, sophomore Derek Hamstra got a hand on the ball and partially blocked the kick to set the Mustangs up in Warcat territory yet again. Five plays later, Biggs gave Vandermyde a break and took it around end 24 yards to pay dirt and the rout was on. Hernandez once again was good on the extra point and Morrison led 33-8 with just :32 remaining in the half.
However, Mitch Toay tried and was successful in working some magic at the end of the half. Toay found Kyle McGivney for a 12-yard gain. On the next play, Toay avoided the rush and rolled right. Setting up near his own sideline, Toay launched the ball way downfield to a wide open Kostenbader who took the rest of the way to the house for a 67-yard touchdown pass as time expired at the end of the half. The two-point conversion failed and Morrison led 33-14 as they headed to halftime.
The Mustangs took advantage of the opening possession of the second half by driving the dagger into the heart of the Warcats. On just the third play of the half, Biggs sprinted around end and was off to the races and took it 56 yards for a touchdown. The extra point kick was good by Hernandez and the score was 40-14.
Toay and the Warcats moved the ball with some effectiveness on the ensuing drive, but that stopped once they moved deeper into Mustang territory and the defense dug in their heels. After forcing a turnover on downs, the offense went to work on driving the final nail into the coffin. It would take the ‘Stangs two and a half minutes to put the ball just inside the Warcat 40-yard line, which was close enough for Vandermyde. Vandermyde took the ball straight ahead the defense parted like the Red Sea as Vandermyde scored the last of his five touchdowns on a 39-yard jaunt to the end zone. Hernandez made the extra point to make the score 47-14 with just over four minutes to go in the quarter.
Any chance Warren-River Ridge had of a comeback was wiped away on second down. In the face of an oncoming blitz, Toay scrambled all the way across the field to his own sideline, before coming all the way back across the field and being brought down by Brent Beveroth for a sack and a loss of 27 on the play. Unfortunately, Toay came down awkwardly on his left ankle and was forced to leave the game. The Mustangs forced the punt from deep in their own territory and they would take over on the other side of the fifty once again.
The Mustangs drove the ball down to the Warcat 16-yard line when the quarter ended signaling twelve more minutes to play with the Mustangs leading 47-14. Things went from bad to a lot worse for the Warcats on the first play of the fourth quarter. As Brent Beveroth slammed ahead for a gain of 11 down to the Warcat five-yard line, senior Ben Freese lay motionless on the ground. Freese lay there for half an hour before being carried off the field in the ambulance. Nathan Neighbour would score two plays later to put the icing on the cake. Hernandez made the extra point to put the mercy clock into use with the Mustangs leading 54-14.
Warren-River Ridge controlled the ball for the next eight minutes and took the ball the length of the field before senior Bryan Loonsfoot plowed into the end zone from two-yards out for a touchdown with 2:13 remaining in the game. The two point conversion was good and the score was cut to 54-22. The ensuing kickoff was fumbled by the Mustangs and the Warcats recovered and were able to run the clock out and end the game while the Mustangs celebrated their first playoff victory since 1998.
Nick Vandermyde led the Pony Express with 207 yards on 20 carries and five touchdowns. Sammy Biggs carried 16 times for 166 yards and two touchdowns. Nate McBride fell just short of the century mark with 97 yards on 15 carries. Brent Beveroth had four carries for 27 yards and Nathan Neighbour and Greg Frickenstein each tallied ten yards apiece with Neighbour having one touchdown. Ryan Schisler was 1-2 passing for 11 yards. The pass was completed to Nick Vandermyde for one of 30 Mustang first downs on the day. Jorge Hernandez was 6-6 on his extra point attempts.
The Campaign for Champaign rolls north for Week 2 as the Mustangs (8-2) travel to #1 Dakota (10-0) to face the Indians at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, November 5. Dakota trounced #8 Peru St. Bede 43-13 on Saturday afternoon. In the bottom half of the quadrant, #2 Newman defeated #7 Forreston 30-6 and #3 Lena-Winslow got by #6 Melrose Park(Walter Lutheran) 29-14. In other TRAC-8 action, #1 Bureau Valley cruised past #8 Paxton-Buckley-Loda 45-6 and #3 Wilmington erupted late to beat #6 Amboy 31-7.
**Ben Freese was airlifted from Morrison to St. Francis Hospital in Rockford where he was listed in serious condition. As of Sunday night, it was revealed that his neck was not broken and he would hopefully be released soon with a heavy neck brace. May your thoughts and prayers be with Ben and his family and the Warcat family as the anticipate news developments over the next few weeks.

by rustinl
2005-10-31 07:00:40