There was a chill in the air on Friday night as DeKalb and Morris engaged on the gridiron. It was Homecoming and Senior Night for the Redskins, but it was the Barbs who came out and heated things up right away.
DeKalb took the opening possession 65 yards in 10 plays and scored on a 9-yard pass play from Jack Sauter to Jimmy Russell. Jake Smith's PAT kick made it 7-0.
"I've seen that before from them on film. I know they are 1-5, but DeKalb has athletes and they were ready to play," Morris coach Alan Thorson said.
In the end, though, it was DeKalb who would be left out in the cold as Morris scored six straight times and seven times in the half in a 56-27 win over the Barbs.
Morris answered that first score by quickly warming things up for the home fans, scoring three plays later a third successive run by Reese Sobol. Sobol went up the middle for runs of 23, 26 and 21 yards - the last going for the score. Fernando Del Toro's PAT kick then tied the game.
On the very next play, Mike McNeils intercepted Sauter and Jeff Perry scored two plays after that on a 9-yard TD run.
When Morris got the ball back, it marched steadily downfield and scored again. The drive went 65 yards in seven plays and was capped on a 12-yard TD run by Sobol. That would be the first of six straight TD for the Redskins.
On the very next play, Perry intercepted Sauter and returned it to the house from 27 yards out. Following a three and out series from DeKalb, Perry scored on a 16-yard TD run. That capped a seven play drive covering 56 yards.
Morris scored again on the first play when it got the ball back. Sobol again hit paydirt — this time from 69 yards away. It was the 10th carry of the first half for Sobol and he went into the locker room with 202 rushing yards.
"We wanted to come out but for whatever reason we didn't," Thorson said. "But we did look good once we got going. We looked great."
DeKalb did break the string of TD by Morris in the next series. It was an eight-play drive that went 69 yards and was capped on a 1-yard TD plunge by Dre Brown. The conversion pass went from Sauter to Jimmy Russell and the score was 42-15. That came with 2:16 left before halftime.
Morris did manage to score one more time before the intermission on an 8-yard run by fullback Collin Grogan at 1:03. Fernando Del Toro's seventh PAT kick made it 49-15 and the two teams finally went to the locker room at the break.
Sobol capped his night on a 51-yard TD run to end with 11 carries and 253 yards.
DeKalb finished the scoring on the night with a 16-yard pass from Sauter to Drew Paszotta and a 3-yard scoring run by Tanner Pumfrey in the closing minutes.
