Morris football team put the pads on Monday
That banging and cracking you may have heard coming from the general vicinity of the Morris Community High School was the Redskins football team on Monday. Yes, were getting that close to the opening kickoff, folks.
The 7-on-7 season is over now with Morris going 4-1 at the Pontiac Tournament to wrap things up. Previously, Morris was again involved in the Bolingbrook League and went to compete at St. Francis a couple of different times.
"We saw some good competition this summer — especially at Bolingbrook," Morris first year varsity coach Alan Thorson said on Monday. "But it's nice now that we get to put the pads on."
It gave the team a different look at itself, especially with a line in front of the backs and backers.
"Now we're playing football today," Morris junior quarterback Austin Feeney said. "It's great. The offense was in sync and its the first time we've gotten together with the line. I can tell you that there's not a better five to have protecting me than the ones we've got."
So far, not a lot has been made of the offensive and defensive lines, but the excitement has been there by the coaching staff as they bided their time until training camp opened.
At the moment, Morris is camping at 9-11 a.m. each day and then 1-3 p.m. if you are interested in attending.
The other aspect of the game that hasn't gotten a lot of play as of yet is the running back corps.
"It was good to see the backs run to the holes," Feeney said. "The offense really did come together today."
That would be a good thing for Morris. Last year the Redskins had one of its lowest offensive totals in a long, long time by scoring just 159 points. That was down from 214 the year before. What most everyone is hoping for is to see the local 11 on offense get back to that state level of performance and to do that, the offense has got to be sharp. Just to keep things in perspective, the last time Morris made the finals in 2007, the team put up 368 points.
I don't think anyone is expecting Morris to score 552 points like it did in 2005, but that was the exception and not the rule. Of course, it's exactly what it took for the Redskins to win state for the first time since 1984 because anything less would have probably not been good enough that year.
In 2006, the offense scored 183 points and went one-and-done in the playoffs, so you kind of can see how important it is to be able to reach the end zone frequently. I know this is the most base and fundamental statement a person can make but it's true. Think about it, when was the last time you saw a high school football team here in Illinois win a championship and have a poor offense? Never, that's when.
To me, the Redskins need to score somewhere in the neighborhood of 250-300 points if they want to play on the turf in Champaign this fall.
That is, of course, assuming a solid defense this year. In each of the last three years Morris has allowed 185, 200 and 211 points, which is somewhere in the vicinity of what this team needs to do in 2010 to have the kind of success it wants.
To me, the big key is the offense. It's also the biggest concern. I have seen too many dropped passes this summer in the limited amount of time I have been around the team. When Aug. 27 rolls around, this can not be a trait that continues. Even this past weekend in Pontiac, the first series against Herscher Morris dropped four passes. It cost them the game, but nobody is getting bent out of shape that Morris lost a 7-on-7 tournament game. If that happens against Oswego and the Redskins lose ...
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