Morris football finishes 7-on-7 workouts

Redskins impressive in summer action

MORRIS – The Morris football team concluded its 7-on-7 competition for the summer Tuesday with another dominating performance against Plainfield South.

The defense remained stalwart, as the Cougars were unable to reach the end zone in their first three series of 10 plays each, all from the 40-yard line. On the last series, the Redskins got interceptions from Aidan Romak and A.J. Zweeres to help prevent South from moving the ball forward.

Meanwhile, the offense, particularly tight end Henry Hansen, had a productive day. Hansen was on the receiving end of three touchdown passes from Zach Romak, while Romak also threw TDs to Cameron Hatcher, who made a leaping grab in the end zone, and Myles Johnston. Sophomore quarterback Carter Button also fired a 10-yard TD strike to Gage Phillips.

Plainfield South was the sixth team that Morris had faced in 7-on-7 competition this summer, along with Yorkville, Wilmington, Providence Catholic, Joliet West and Romeoville. Although no score was kept during the competitions, Morris showed itself to be the more dominant team in each matchup.

“We really had a good summer,” coach Alan Thorson said. “With the exception of Wilmington, we have played schools that are bigger than us. We wanted to test ourselves against the athleticism and speed of those bigger schools, and our kids stepped up. They showed that they can definitely compete against those types of teams.

“Henry Hansen has shown that he can be a weapon for us. He has good size and he showed us some of his speed on a couple of plays. Teams are probably going to try to take Myles [Johnston] away sometimes like Plainfield South did today, and we need to be able to adjust to that.”

Johnston, a senior who returns as a starting wide receiver, was happy to have more time to work with his teammates.

“I only started playing football last year,” he said. “These 7-on-7s help me learn what I have to do and they help me get timing with Zach and the rest of the offense.

“This summer has been a lot of fun. We faced some pretty tough competition and did pretty good against everyone. We just kept getting better the more plays we ran.”

The Redskins were scheduled to have their last practice of the summer Thursday and then take nearly two weeks off before the official start of fall practice on Aug. 9. The first game will be at Coal City on Aug. 27.

“I told the kids that it’s time for ‘real’ football,” Thorson said. “When we start back in August, we will have to start working the offensive and defensive lines in and start to work more as a team. We know that the talent is there, now we have to get it all to work together.”

Johnston, who has been voted a captain by his teammates along with Jorge Loza, Zach Romak and Justin Hemmersbach, also is eager for the season to start in earnest.

“I can’t wait to get started,” he said. “Everyone is pretty excited, and we’ll be ready to go for that first game.”

Rob Oesterle

Rob Oesterle

Rob has been a sports writer for the Morris Herald-News and Joliet Herald-News for more than 20 years.