Mustangs shut out Bruins once again
MORRISON — Two second half touchdowns, a swampy field, a late-game safety and an unyielding Morrison Mustang ball control game equaled a long bus ride home for the St. Bede Bruins Friday night.
Using a classic keep-away style of football, the Mustangs kept the Bruin offense’s time of possession under two minutes in the third quarter, and the home team proved why they are among the top teams in Illinois Class 3A football with a 15-0 shutout at Morrison’s Cole Field.
Back-to-back drives punctuated by a pair of Josh Vos touchdown runs to open the second half propelled the Mustangs to the Three Rivers Conference victory. While the Mustangs burned clock with scoring drives of 11 and 13 plays during the third quarter and the early part of the fourth quarter, the St. Bede offense was on the field for only one minute and 30 seconds and executed only three plays from the line of scrimmage during the first 12 minutes of the second half.
“It was a great offensive effort on their part,” SBA coach John Bellino said after the Bruins suffered their third straight regular season shutout at the hands of the Mustangs. “Their offensive line just did a hell of a job in the second half. Their offensive line was just quicker than we were. Their kids were just quicker than us, and their running backs were quicker.”
Vos rushed for 124 yards with 90 of those yards coming in the second half. St. Bede’s main offensive weapon was senior back Adam Schweickert who carried 12 times for 21 yards. Schweickert gained 20 of those yards in the first half as the Bruins were held to -8 total offensive yards after the halftime intermission.
The teams played to a scoreless tie to the halftime gun, and the Bruin defense did take the ball away from the Mustangs during the first two quarters. Defensive back Kevin King intercepted two Andrew Cook first-half passes including a red zone pick-off at the goal-line that suppressed a MHS scoring chance right before the break.
“Defensively, we played very, very well,” Bellino said. “They way I look at it right now is that we never moved them (at the line of scrimmage). We just weren’t able to move them.”
St. Bede finished with 26 total offensive yards while the Mustangs piled up 185 yards in the second half and 273 total yards.
MHS tallied the final two points of the game on a safety when Bruin quarterback Ryne Denis was tackled in the SBA end zone with 2:48 to play.
NOTES: Bruin defensive lineman Austin Yoon recovered a fumble deep in Bruin territory to halt a possible third Morrison touchdown, but moments later, the Mustang defense did notch the fourth quarter safety. The Bruin defense did take the ball away three times while SBA committed not one turnover. St. Bede was only penalized twice for 22 yards while Morrison was flagged for seven infractions. In the preliminary contest, the Morrison Ponies downed SBA 44-0.
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