Hubs fall short at Morris

Late first half score swings momentum

Posted 9/13/19

The Hubs stood up to a physical Morris team for most of the first half before falling on the road.

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Hubs fall short at Morris

Late first half score swings momentum

Posted

MORRIS — For nearly two full quarters Kyle Kissack’s young varsity football squad stood toe to toe with Morris on its home field.

The Hubs drew first blood and matched the Redskins on both sides of the ball for 20 minutes of play before two late second quarter touchdowns took the wind out of Rochelle’s sails.

 “We played well for most of the half and looked like we were only going to be down 14-7,” but that touchdown right before the break really changed the momentum,” said Hub coach Kyle Kissack.

The Hubs led 7-0 at the end of the first quarter, but Morris scored three touchdowns in the second frame and added two more in the second half to defeat Rochelle 34-14.

“I don’t think the final score reflects how hard we played and battled with them,” Kissack added. “They are a physical team and that’s what type of game we got.”

Morris ran a 10-play drive from its own 35 yard-line down to the Rochelle 23 and looked to be on the way for a score, but the Hub defense tightened up and sacked Redskins quarterback Zach Reddinger on fourth down eight to put an end to the series and take over the ball.

On the Hubs’ first possession of the game, Rochelle came hard off the ball and executed a strong running attack. Ben Harvey, Gavin Ansteth and Owen Angell took turns grinding out yards and moving the Hubs down field, and a big 26-yard pass play from quarterback Ethan Etes to Harvey set Rochelle up in Morris territory.

After hauling in the catch, Harvey ripped off two more big runs of 11 and 13 yards, respectively, to take the ball inside the Morris 10 yard-line.

Ansteth capped off the impressive 12-play scoring drive with a three-yard dive off the left side for a touchdown, and after Marco Castro’s point after kick was good, the Hubs led Morris 7-0 with just 1:48 to go in the first quarter.

“We executed well in the first quarter,” Kissack said.

Morris came back and chipped away at the Hubs on its next drive, but it looked like the Hub defense was going to shut down another series when they had the Redskins stalled at third down and 13 on the Rochelle 39 yard-line.

However, Reddinger escaped pressure on a drop back pass play and tossed a 20-yard completion to Nolan Swartz who had gotten open down field. Two plays later Brandon Phelps broke away on a 13-yard run and John Landers followed with a two-yard touchdown run that knotted up the game 7-7 with 10:03 left in the first quarter.

Rochelle was forced to punt on its next possession after six plays and Morris took over at its own 31-yard line.

Again, it appeared Rochelle’s defense was going to shut down the Redskins, but on third down and 13 Reddinger connected with Cole Laurie for a 14-yard completion and a first down. The hosts took advantage of a Rochelle personal foul penalty on the next play and all of a sudden had the ball at the Hubs’ 28-yard line.

Two plays later Reddinger took it himself on a quarterback run for an 18-yard touchdown to give Morris a 14-7 lead with 4:34 to go in the half.

The Hubs took over at their own 30-yard line and effectively moved the ball into Morris territory when Etes found Angell open for a big 29-yard pass play down to the Redskins’ 41-yard line.

After gaining another first down on four straight running plays, Etes put the ball in the air again but this time was intercepted by Phelps at the Morris 10-yard line which ended the drive.

With 1:21 to play in the half, Morris ripped off 35 yards in four straight running plays and then Reddinger hit Swartz on a sideline screen that went for 50 yards down the right sidelines to the Hubs’ 5-yard line.

On the ensuing play a quick pass was caught and at the end of the play it appeared the ball may have come out on the tackle at the 2-yard line and possibly cross the goal line and go out of bounds for a touchback. However, the ball was awarded to Morris and two plays later Reddinger burst through for a 2-yard TD run to give the hosts a 20-7 lead at intermission.

“They have some good players who made some big plays and took advantage of some of our break downs,” Kissack said.

Taking a two-touchdown lead into the locker room left the Hubs reeling and energized Morris. The Redskins added another touchdown with 4:32 to play in the third quarter on a long 50-yard run and capped off their scoring with a 32-yard breakaway run with 10:55 left in the fourth quarter to go ahead 34-7.

Despite being a bit beaten up late in the game, the Hubs managed to put together a late scoring drive that started on their own 28-yard line. Several solid running plays and a personal foul penalty enabled Rochelle to move down to the Morris 9-yard line before Angell rushed in for a touchdown with less than 3 minutes in the game to end the scoring at 34-14.

“We are going to have to find out where we are health wise and come back together,” Kissack said after the game. “We can’t get wrapped up in a tough loss. I believe in these kids and I know some kids will step up and take advantage of opportunities.”

Rochelle was led in rushing by Ansteth with 98 yards and one touchdown, while Harvey gained 74 yards on the ground and Angell had 19 yards and one touchdown.

Etes was 2-for-5 passing for 55 yards and one interception, while Harvey had one reception for 26 yards and Angell had one catch for 29 yards.

Ethan Albers led the Hubs defensively with six tackles, of which two were for a loss, while Harvey recorded five tackles, of which two were for a loss. Nick Albers, Etes and Keegan Davis each had four tackles on the night. Braden Alfano had the Hubs’ only sack.

The loss drops the Hubs to 1-2 overall on the season and 0-1 in conference play. The team will play its first home game this Friday night.