There are two words that Morris coach Alan Thorson uses to describe his football team.

Fast and physical.

Those two traits showed up in abundance Friday night as Morris (6-0, 3-0) steamrolled Interstate Eight Conference rival Rochelle (3-3, 1-2), 37-14.

The physicality started early for Morris, as they forced Rochelle into a 3-and-out on the game’s opening possession. That was a theme for the entire first half, as Rochelle did not start a play from Morris territory before halftime. The Hubs reached the Morris 46 at one point, but a false start penalty moved them back behind midfield and they couldn’t gain the yards back.

When Morris got the ball for the first time, it drove 47 yards on 13 plays before getting a 37-yard field goal from Grant Sparrow. Another Rochelle three-and-out followed, and Morris embarked on a 10-play, 73-yard drive that ended with a four-yard touchdown run by Mick Smith. A key play in the drive was a 29-yard completion from Brady Varner (7 of 10, 145 yards, one TD) to Anthony Smith.

Mick Smith’s name kept getting called, as he ran for another six-yard TD on Morris’ next drive for a 17-0 lead. He then intercepted a pass to give Morris the ball back at its own 18 just before halftime.

“We 100% wanted to send a message,” Mick Smith said. “We owed them [Rochelle] from last year [a 37-15 loss]. They brought it to us last year, and we wanted to do the same thing to them this year.

“We returned a lot of guys from last year, including all of our linebackers - myself, Caeden Curran and Owen Olson. We want to be fast and physical and we were tonight. On offense, Caeden is a great running back, but he needed a rest, so I stepped up and was able to get a couple of touchdowns. This was a big win for us.”

Morris got the second-half kickoff and Logan Conroy returned it 41 yards to the Morris 46. From there, it took Morris just six plays, all runs by Curran (22 carries, 128 yards, two TDs), and he capped it with a one-yard burst.

Rochelle got on the board on its next drive, using 18 plays and nearly 9:30 off the clock, with Dylan Manning scoring from a yard out. The two-point conversion failed and Morris led 24-6 with just :37 to play in the third quarter. Manning finished with 69 rushing yards on 20 carries, but was wheeled off the field on a stretcher to an ambulance after collapsing on the sideline after the game was over.

Morris got a 41-yard pass from Varner to Conroy to start the fourth quarter, and three plays later, Curran scored from four yards out. After Morris stopped Rochelle on downs, Varner hit RJ Kennedy for a 39-yard TD pass to make it 37-6. Rochelle answered with a 52-yard touchdown run by Roman Villalobos (10 carries, 89 yards) and the conversion pass from Cohen Haedt to Manning was good to provide the final score.

“All season, we have talked about being physical,” Thorson said. “Every game we lost last year, the other teams won the line of scrimmage against us. It has been a point of emphasis to get back to physical football this season, and you have seen it play out that way these first six weeks.

“Our offensive line did a great job, the backs blocked well for each other and our tight ends, Brady Babington and Logan Sparrow, do a great job as well. Caeden and Mick both run the ball real hard, and the defense played great, especially in the first half when we held them to 54 yards. And, we scored on almost every possession. A lot of that was the defense putting our offense in good position. Rochelle’s wing-T offense is hard to contain with the running backs they have, but the defense did a great job.”