North Boone's Morris haunts Trojans, again

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Posted 8/29/18

MENDOTA – One take out of Mendota’s football season opener against North Boone is that it won’t have to deal with quarterback Britton Morris again.

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North Boone's Morris haunts Trojans, again

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Mendota receiver Chris Sandoval is focused in on the football as North Boone’s Ethan Rydell moves in to try to break up the pass on Aug. 24 at the MHS field. Sandoval caught the pass, but he landed out of bounds. (Reporter photo)

MENDOTA – One take out of Mendota’s football season opener against North Boone is that it won’t have to deal with quarterback Britton Morris again.

The senior signal-caller torched the Trojans for the third straight year, this time to the tune of a 63-0 thrashing as the 2018 season got underway on Aug. 24 at the MHS field. The entire second-half featured a running clock because of the 40-point rule.

Morris has been under center for the Vikings since his sophomore year, and in the two prior seasons to this, the right-handed slinger had combined for 720 yards passing and 167 yards rushing against the Trojans. He had thrown for 10 touchdowns, rushed for two and even scored on an 87-yard fumble return.

So, needless to say, the Trojans knew they would have their hands full with Morris in his senior campaign, and he almost single-handily took down Mendota again in the Big Northern Conference encounter. Morris threw for 257 yards, ran for 57, had three touchdowns passing and three rushing. He accounted for 314 of his team’s 475 total yards.

“North Boone is the real deal,” said first-year Trojan coach Keegan Hill. “They have a really nice offense and their quarterback is really talented.”

Another North Boone standout, who has been playing on the varsity level since he was a freshman is Cooper Baden, and he’s just beginning his junior year. The Viking running back carried the ball only five times, but accumulated 121 yards and two touchdowns in the process.

Baden got North Boone’s season started with a bang when after accepting the game’s opening kick, he led the Vikings into the end zone on just three plays. The finale was a 61-yard dart to the end zone by Baden with less than one minute elapsed on the game clock. Korey Yarc booted the extra-point kick.

Mendota’s first offensive series of the season resulted in three plays and a punt, and North Boone set up at its own 13-yard line. Two-and-a-half minutes and 87 yards later, the Vikings tallied on a 10-yard run by Morris, followed by a Yarc kick to make it 14-0.

Mendota’s offense got over its first-series jitters and was able to move the ball inside Viking territory on its second possession, but the drive stalled on fourth down and the Trojans turned it back over to North Boone.

Morris connected with Ethan Rydell for a 33-yard pass that moved the ball deep into the Mendota zone. The drive culminated when Morris hooked up with Rydell again on a 12-yard TD pass at the 3:08 mark of the first quarter. Yarc’s kick split the uprights for a 21-0 count.

North Boone tacked on five more touchdowns in the second quarter to take a 56-0 halftime lead.

After the Trojans could not convert another fourth-down opportunity at the North Boone 40, Baden took a short pitch from Morris and sprinted 57 yards to the end zone just 14 seconds into the second period. Yarc added the extra-point kick.

On Mendota’s ensuing possession, the offense failed to convert a fourth-down play for the third straight series, and North Boone regained the ball at its own 33. The Vikings needed just a minute-and-a-half to cover 67 yards, with Morris taking it the final four for a touchdown. Yarc nailed the PAT kick.

The Trojans had a strong southerly wind in their face in the second quarter, and faced with a punting situation at their own 22-yard line, the ball got caught up in the breeze and went only seven yards to the 29. Fifty-two seconds later, Morris found Garrik Oliver on an 18-yard touchdown strike. Yarc’s extra-point try was good.

North Boone added two more scores in the final three minutes of the half to take a 56-0 lead to the locker room. An interception of a Gavin Glazebrook pass by the Vikings’ Josh Chudoba at midfield led to a 33-yard touchdown pass from Morris to Rydell.

Then Morris bulled in the end zone from 1 yard out with 53 seconds left to complete the first-half onslaught. Yarc added the PAT kick after both touchdowns.

Mendota’s best offensive series of the game came to start the second half when it drove from its own 20 to inside North Boone’s 20, but a Trojan fumble was recovered by the Vikings to thwart the threat.

Early in the fourth quarter, Mendota’s Brayden Northcutt intercepted a pass by Viking backup quarterback Logan Emanuel at the Trojan 9-yard line, but Mendota turned the ball back over to North Boone. The Vikings completed the game’s scoring on a 5-yard TD run by Chudoba with 7:13 left in the contest. Yarc finished off a perfect night of kicking with his ninth PAT.

The Trojans ended with 194 total yards. Gabe Guzman rushed 23 times for 76 yards, while Cody Jenner had nine touches for 73 yards. Glazebrook completed four passes for 35 yards, with Chris Sandoval catching two aerials for 19 yards.

“I thought our effort was there, we just have to learn from this and move forward together,” said Hill. “The kids are doing what we asked them to do.

“I thought our running backs ran hard and our offensive line got into the flow of the game.”