July 04, 2025
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Morris comes out strong, scores 8 times in opening half against Woodstock

By Andy Tavegia for Shaw Local
Jacob Swartz

Jacob Swartz

WOODSTOCK – At halftime, the numbers didn’t look all that dissimilar – 54 for Morris and 61 for Woodstock.

The problem is one of those represented points while the other represented total yardage.

Morris scored eight touchdowns in the first half on its way to a 61-0 thumping of Woodstock on Friday night in a Kishwaukee River/Interstate 8 White matchup.

Coming off a tough loss against Richmond-Burton in a battle of two of the state’s best, Morris (6-1, 4-0) looked to get back some of its swagger and did so in grand style. It received touchdowns from five different players while totaling 414 yards of offense.

Defensively, Morris forced three turnovers and limited the Blue Streaks (2-5, 1-4) to just 95 yards of offense.

“The opponent didn’t matter to us tonight. It was really how were we going to respond from a tough loss,” Morris coach Alan Thorson said. “Nobody does, but we really don’t like losing obviously. We think we have a very good team and we have some high expectations to play late into November. I think last week was kind of a wake-up call and a little learning lesson for us. I was extremely proud of how they came out.”

The rout began from the opening kickoff, literally. That’s when senior Matthew Stark made his mark by breaking loose on an 80-yard return for the game’s opening score.

“I thought it was going to go deep in the air, but it was kind of a squib,” said Stark of his first career varsity touchdown. “I picked it up, and I just saw a gaping hole from our return team, which they did a really good job today. I saw an opening and ran to it, and got into the end zone.

“I think we needed that. I think we needed a good start coming off the loss.”

By halftime, quarterback Carter Button completed 8 of his 9 passes for 150 yards and three touchdowns. A.J. Zweeres caught two of those, including a 54-yarder, while adding an 8-yard scoring run. Jack Wheeler had a 33-yard TD reception.

In the rushing game, Jacob Swartz had one of his two rushing touchdowns in the first half while teammate Ashton Yard added two scores.

“The week of practice we really were looking to improve on a lot of our mistakes, more on the mental part of it because we felt like we had a lot of mental mistakes against Richmond-Burton,” said Swartz, who finished with a game-high 84 yards rushing. “We went into this week focused and with more determination. We came out ready to play hard this week and get better.”

Zweeres and Brett Bounds intercepted passes for Morris.

It was a tough night for Woodstock, which used two quarterbacks throughout but finished only 7 of 17 through the air for 31 yards with two interceptions. Adriane Perry led the Blue Streaks with 38 yards rushing.