Mustangs ride past Clippers

AMBOY – The terrible weather didn’t drive away the fans in the home bleachers in Amboy on Friday night.

The first four minutes of the third quarter did.

The Morrison Mustangs turned two Clipper turnovers into quick touchdowns in the matchup of previously undefeated teams in the Big Rivers.

The Morrison scoring didn’t stop there in what turned into a 35-6 rout of the Clippers.

“I thought we played pretty well in the first half,” Amboy coach Gary Jones said. “We were down 7-0 then we come out after half with a couple mistakes and all sudden Morrison’s up by three touchdowns. It just snowballed from there.”

The Mustangs started the second half on defense. A second down sack by Alec Klimson drove Amboy back and forced a punt attempt after third down.

A group of Mustangs surged through the line to block Taylor Doege’s punt attempt. It was the second blocked punt of the game for Morrison (6-0, 6-0 Big Rivers).

Just like the first block by Cory Swanstrom that led to a Morrison first quarter touchdown, this one also put points on the board.

Andrew Cook found Swanstrom open on first down for a 20-yard touchdown pass.

“I think we caught them off guard a little bit,” Cook said. “Being able to throw the ball is important for us in big games. That started us rolling.”

The Clippers fumbled the ball away two plays into the next drive setting up Morrison at the Amboy’s 30-yard-line.

On the first play, Conner Bealer cut up the middle for the touchdown that put Morrison up 21-0 with 8 minutes, 11 seconds left in the third quarter.

“I think defensively we have been solid all year and we were again tonight,” Morrison coach Cory Bielema said. “We did a good job of taking the ball away and we made the most of those opportunities.”

Amboy (5-1, 5-1 Big Rivers) had more penalties (8) than first downs (7). They also had seven fumbles, losing four of them. Theu gained 219 yards, with 86-yard touchdown run by Brian Appelman to end the third quarter accounting for much of it.