High School Sports
Morrison takes No. 1 show on the road
By Erik Smith
For the Herald
LANARK, Ill. — Morrison is ready to take its high-powered show on the road this weekend.
The top-ranked and top-seeded Mustangs (10-0) will travel to Eastland/Pearl City (8-2) for a 1 p.m. game Saturday in the second round of the Illinois Class 2A football playoffs.
“Being our first road playoff game is somewhat of a worry,” Morrison coach Cory Bielema said. “But this isn’t our first big game on the road. We went to Amboy and BV (Bureau Valley) for two big conference games.”
The Mustangs, coming off a 55-20 drubbing of Deer Creek-Mackinaw, have even impressed the coaching staff this week with their focus.
“It’s actually been spooky good,” Bielema said. “We were kinda joking among the staff that we got a little worried because we hadn’t practiced like that for the greater part of the year.”
Senior standout Josh Vos thought practices were “a little lackadaisical” heading into the Mustangs’ first-round game.
“We just need to practice how we play,” Vos said after his four-touchdown performance against the Chiefs.
“This week they’ve definitely ratcheted it up a notch or two,” Bielema said.
Eastland/Pearl City, the No. 9 seed, ousted eighth-seeded Downs Tri-Valley last week with a 41-6 road win.
“They’re a very good football team,” Bielema said. “And from what we’ve seen, they’re very quick on both sides of the ball.”
The Wildcats finished third in the Northwest division of the Northwest Upstate Illini Conference, losing 29-7 to Dakota (10-0) and 25-18 to Lena-Winslow (9-1).
Senior Alex Maurer is the focal point of the E/PC offense, rushing for more than 1,500 yards and 17 touchdowns. Sophomore Drake Walker is at quarterback for a team that starts just three seniors on offense and four on defense.
The top three tacklers for E/PC are starting linebackers Jacob Mack (senior), Collin Talbert (senior) and Michael Dinderman (junior).
“We’re a pretty junior-dominated team,” E/PC coach Randy Asche said. “We have a very, very talented group of juniors at (the) defensive back (positions), which gives us great range.”
One of the most talented juniors, according to Asche, is free safety Mac Byers, who has been battling a pinched nerve in his left shoulder for most of the season.
“He is an absolute hammer, probably pound-for-pound the hardest hitter in our conference,” Asche said. “He is a physically dominating kid.”
The third-year coach said his Wildcats would have their hands full Saturday on both sides of the ball.
“We’re playing a different monster this week,” Asche said. “One glaring thing that you see is how athletic all their guys are, even their linemen. They just have athletes all over the field.”
But with one goal of hosting a playoff game already accomplished, Asche said his team is ready to go.
“We have a huge mountain to climb, but we’re excited about the challenge to see where our program is,” he said.
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