Chace Bachert was honest in his self-assessment after the game.

“I feel like I still wanted to do more out there,” the Morris defensive linemen said. “I think I left some plays on the field, but our defense coordinator schemed us up and had us ready as a unit.”

He must not have seen his final stat line.

Football is a team sport with 11 on each side for a reason. Having Mick Smith on defense and Caeden Curran also helped.

But what a night Bachert had.

Bachert finished with three sacks, two tackles for a loss, a fumble recovery, and two additional QB hits against Mahomet-Seymour on Friday night. That helped Morris spoil the evening for a sold-out crowd at Frank Dutton Field as Morris got the 33-14 win over the host Bulldogs.

Again, Morris (2-0) owes a great deal of thanks to Curran, who ran for 183 yards and two touchdowns on offense. Smith had a touchdown run, an interception, and a TFL, too. Quarterback Brady Varner accounted for two scores and would’ve easily had three more had it not been for drops in the end zone.

All of that to say that it was a team effort, for sure. But anytime a big play seemed to happen, it was Bachert’s name getting called. What’s more, he led a unit that held the Bulldogs to just 217 yards, 114 of which came in the fourth quarter when the game was well in hand before the fourth.

After giving up a touchdown on the second possession of the game, Morris rarely gave up a first down the rest of the way until the fourth.

“We saw a completely different team tonight from week one that presented a different challenge,” coach Alan Thorson said. “We played a Wing-T team week on and came out against a team we knew would spread the ball around. I thought our team stepped up big time. We preached improvement from week one to week two, and I think we saw that on both sides of the ball tonight.”

The Morris defense forced a three-and-out to start, and the offense made plays early. Facing a fourth and eight on the opening Morris possession, Varner hit his brother Bryce Varner for a 24-yard score to give them a 6-0 lead.

Mahomet-Seymour briefly managed to take a 7-6 lead thanks to a 13-yard end-around by Bryson Tiefenthaler, but Smith punched it in from a yard out with 45 seconds left in the first. With a successful two-point conversion, Morris went up 14-7.

A one-yard TD plunge by Curran gave Morris a 20-7 edge at the midway point.

The third quarter belonged to the Morris offense with Brady Varner scoring on a 22-yard quarterback keeper before Curran scored on a five-yard scamper with three minutes left in the period. That gave Morris a 33-7 edge.

Credit the Bulldogs for not surrendering. Quarterback Ryan Pruitt managed to hit Wade Manuel for a late 10-yard TD pass to give the Bulldogs 14. A 64-yard run by Curran with under two minutes to go nearly gave Morris another score, but they opted to run the clock out and get out with the victory.

As is always the case, Morris said they’d celebrate the win Friday night, but then the preparation would start for week three. A trip to Peoria is a daunting task, especially after the Lions got the win last year. Curran said the team is focused but confident entering that one.

“That’s a big game,” he said. “We just have to stop the run game and that’s all we need. Score some points and I think we can beat them.”