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Will Knapp’s punt return TD helps jumpstart Morris to 59-7 win over Ottawa

Morris scored early, often in topping the Pirates to set up showdown at Sycamore

By Brian Hoxsey
Morris logo

Morris logo

MORRIS – After playing three consecutive weeks on the road, Morris head coach Alan Thorson said his team was looking forward to playing on its home turf and was hoping to get off to a fast start.

Enter Will Knapp.

Following the Morris defense forcing a 3-and-out on Ottawa’s opening possession, the senior punt returner corralled the Pirates’ punt at his own 47. He streaked straight ahead before making a sharp cut to his right and eventually found the end zone just under two minutes into Friday night’s contest to help the hosts start the trek to a 59-7 victory over Ottawa (4-4, 1-4).

“We spend a lot of time each and every week working on special teams. In fact, we start each practice with 15 to 20 minutes of just that,” Thorson said, his squad ranked No. 6 in this week’s AP Class 5A polls. “So the fact that we were able to get a couple of really good returns and get scores off of them was really huge for us. We put a big emphasis on special teams, and tonight it was something that really got us going in the right direction.

“We’d been on the road for three weeks, so we just wanted to come out fast, which we were able to do.”

Morris (7-1, 5-0) forced punts on the next two Ottawa possessions and turned them into a 24-yard TD run by Ashton Yard (six carries, 93 yards) and a 5-yard scamper by A.J. Zweeres to lead 21-0 at the end of the first quarter.

The hosts then scored four times in the second quarter on a 19-yard pitch and catch from Carter Button to Knapp, a 15-yard run by Jacob Swartz (five carries, 68 yards), a 12-yard dash by Yard and another punt return TD by Knapp, this one covering 68 yards. to make it 46-0 at halftime.

Button finished the game 3 of 4 passing for 50 yards, all three completions to Knapp, while kicker Esteban CiFuentes made five of six PAT boots.

Morris held the advantage over Ottawa in first downs (14-7) and total yards (324-145) despite running 15 fewer plays.

In the continuous running-clock second half, Morris received TD runs from Dimitri Lindermuth (6 yards) and Jack Amiano (5 yards), while Ottawa put up its only points of the game on a 40-yard TD run by Dillan Quartrano (11 carries, 67 yards), plus the PAT kick by Cam Loomis.

Pirates wide receiver Levi Sheehan caught eight passes from QB Colby Mortenson for 62 yards to make Sheehan the Pirates’ all-time leader in career receptions (70), breaking the old mark of 65 by Steve Sipula (1965-66). Sheehan also inched closer to the all-time receiving yards record, now needing 34 to break Sipula’s mark of 1,032.

“Coach Thorson does an amazing job here, and this program is one of the state’s best teams and a measuring stick in our conference each and every year for a reason,” Ottawa head coach Chad Gross said. “We knew this was going to be a tough game.

“We did have some positives. I thought Dillan had a great game on both sides of the ball and matched their physicality. He hadn’t played at running back once this season and stepped in and put together a solid game for us. Colby had a couple of nice throws, and Levi had some nice catches as well.

“Defensively, at times we made some nice plays, but it just wasn’t consistent enough. That’s something we will continue to work on next week.

“Next week starts the playoffs for us.”

Morris travels to play Sycamore in what will be the KR/I8 White Division championship game. Ottawa hosts Woodstock in search of a fifth win that would likely produce a playoff berth.

“Ottawa has done some nice things this season and came in here with four wins, so we weren’t taking them lightly,” Thorson said. “We prepared hard for tonight, because there was a lot at stake for us - we wanted to set ourselves up for a shot at a conference championship next week and also hopefully put ourselves in position for a home playoff game.

“I thought our defense did an outstanding job tonight. A couple of weeks ago we weren’t super happy with how we played offensively, so we’ve been really pushing our offensive line to step up, and they have the past two weeks.”