Newman grabs momentum to top Morrison

MORRISON – In a game where five rushing touchdowns were scored, hitting and swatting were the main talents on display in the season opener Friday night between Newman and Morrison.

Both the Comets and Mustangs combined for eight sacks and 10 tackles for loss, and it was a blocked punt that gave the Comets the momentum they needed in the second half to race out to a 28-6 win at Ennis M. “Bud” Cole Field.

With 8:33 to play in the third quarter and the Mustangs punting in their own territory, Newman senior lineman Caleb Donna – whose team was up 6-0 at halftime – found a big hole in the Morrison line and got his hands on the punted ball after a 5-foot kick and swatted it backward toward the goal line. The Comets (1-0) recovered to move the ball 29 yards toward the Morrison goal line to get short field position, and Gabe Padilla ended the drive with a 2-yard run for a 14-0 lead after a successful point-after pass.

“We needed to get the team riled up in the second half,” Donna said. “I really was just ready to get that punt. That brought the momentum up big-time, and we finished the game out pounding the football in their mouths.”

The Comets defense held the Mustangs (0-1) to a single negative yard of total offense in the first quarter, denying the Morrison ground game of nearly any big run. Donna was part of two big plays in succession midway through the second quarter when he took down Morrison senior quarterback Danny Mouw for minus-10 yards in midfield right after sophomore teammate Ryan Partington took Mouw down for minus-5 more on third down.

First-year Newman coach Mike LeMay enjoyed seeing his defense and special teams come up big when they needed to.

“Defensively, that’s our identity and that’s our bloodline, and they showed up tonight,” Lemay said. “Caleb’s got a motor, and that’s why he’s one of our guys running down the field on kickoffs, and for him to bust through and make that play, it was good to see the guys get that one.”

All four of the Comets’ scores were on short-yardage plays. Padilla had three of them – two from 2 yards out and another from 1 yard – and Hunter Luyando, who had his team’s largest run of the day at 61 yards, had the first-half score from 1 yard out.

Morrison only had two plays go for double-digit yardage, both on passes, and added much more offense in the second half. The Mustangs’ lone touchdown came with 40.9 seconds left in the third quarter on a 6-yard rush from junior Daeshawn McQueen.

Mustangs sophomore defensive back Donny Reavy led his team’s defense with three tackles for loss and two sacks of Comets senior quarterback JJ Castle – the last of which forced a fumble in the Comets’ red zone that was recovered by junior lineman Evan McDonnell. That recovery led to McQueen’s touchdown.

“We did a lot of really good things defensively,” Morrison coach Steve Snider said. “They scored one touchdown on a really short field, but defensively we are going to take a lot of real good things away. Offensively, I don’t know if we did anything well. We did a lot of good things in the second half, but just never got over the hump.”