July 01, 2025
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Newman, Morrison ready to renew rivalry in season opener

By Dan Wussow

Morrison's Alex Anderson (4) stiff-arms Newman's Nolan Britt (23) during their season opener last year at Roscoe Eades Stadium. This year, the Mustangs will host the rival Comets in a Week 1 game on Friday night. (Myles Newberry)

As the Newman and Morrison football teams get ready for their first game of the 2022 season Friday night in Morrison, neither is entirely sure what to expect.

The Mustangs just graduated a big senior class in the spring, and have a number of new starters on both sides of the ball. It’s also only their second season under head coach Steve Snider.

The Comets, on the other hand, bring in first-year head coach Mike LeMay.

In the recent history between these two teams, Newman has had the clear upper hand, winning four of its last five matchups against Morrison.

Last season, the Comets ran away with a 34-6 Week 1 win; in the spring of 2021, the Comets edged the Mustangs 14-7; and in 2019, Morrison prevailed, 18-6. Newman won the 2017 and 2018 games 54-0 and 55-8.

But in a new season with a new coach on the Newman side, it’s anybody’s guess how the 2022 meeting might play out.

Snider says the Mustangs have done their best to prepare for anything and everything the Comets might throw at them Friday night.

“New coach at Newman, so we don’t know exactly what we are going to get, schematically speaking. So we try to cover everything,” he said. “We do know we will get a well-coached and well-disciplined team. We know we have to do things really well to have a chance at success.”

Being fundamentally sound and winning the battle up front will be crucial for Morrison this week, Snider says.

“Points of emphasis are on blocking and tackling,” he said. “You cannot beat anybody unless you block and tackle well. Consistency with blocking and tackling are something that we hope to hang our hat on.

“I think the biggest matchup is between our offensive line and their defensive front. We have a lot of new faces on the offensive line, and not a lot of depth. We will find out if they can win in the trenches against a talented team.”

Newman's Marcus Williams breaks away from an ankle tackle during last year's season opener against Morrison at Roscoe Eades Stadium in Sterling. (Myles Newberry)

Some of the Newman players have a little more familiarity with Morrison. As seniors this year, center Adam Morgan and quarterback/outside linebacker JJ Castle are well-acquainted with the rivalry.

From the moment offseason workouts began, they’ve have been looking forward to this matchup.

“We’ve had some good battles. I know my freshman, sophomore year, good battles – and we had a good battle with them last year. I think as my senior year, we’re excited to take on Morrison one more time,” Morgan said. “We gotta sprint to the ball every time; we gotta play really hard. It’s Blue Machine football. We’ve been preparing for this since the beginning of summer, and we’re excited for it.”

”We know its a big rival for us over the past few years, so going into this game, we really just want to play Blue Machine football, and give it to them, and let them know that we’re still Newman football no matter what has happened over the last few years, With our coaches getting mixed up and everything,” Castle said. “Keys to winning this week would be focusing. Since it’s the first week, you never know what’s going to happen or what’s going to go wrong. So if something does go wrong, it’s picking our heads up on the next play and doing everything we can.”

With film to review from last year’s game vs. Morrison – and from some of its other games in 2021 – Newman has a little background info to lean on this week.

“We watched film from last year, that’s what we have. We’ve seen a little bit of what they did later in the season, so we’re just kind of piecing it together,” LeMay said. “I know that was their first year with the new coach and trying to get their scheme down and seeing what it is, and pretty much, that’s what our scouting report right now is.

“I know they have some pretty dynamic athletes. They ran the fullback a lot last year, and they tried to get the ball out in space to their athletes. And we’ve got some athletes as well to match up with theirs, so we’re looking at that and focusing on those keys, pretty much. And I think we’ll be in good shape coming forward as long as our kids line up and get after it.”

Newman and host Morrison are scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m. Friday.