| Morris Redskins ride Komperda, O-line over JCA at home |
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By DICK GOSS Herald News
Morris High School football coach George Dergo meant no disrespect whatsoever.
But his description of what transpired during the Redskins' 21-18 victory Friday night in the opening round of the Class 6A state football playoffs could not have been more accurate.
"We kind of took them out to the woodshed -- isn't that what they used to say?" Dergo beamed after his troops scored the unlikeliest of triple crowns -- three victories over Joliet Catholic Academy in the past 12 months, all at Morris.Dergo's description spoke of the dominance the Redskins' offensive line, of running back Kyle Komperda pounding the ball between the tackles, of Morris (7-3) running all that precious time off the clock.
Komperda always has been a solid linebacker, but a few short weeks ago, he was not often seen in the offensive backfield. After what developed both last week against Minooka and Friday against JCA (6-4), he definitely will be on the 6A radar, beginning with next week's second-round battle at unbeaten and top-seeded Normal Community.
After accumulating 174 yards in 18 carries in a 25-10 victory last week that denied rival Minooka a berth in the playoffs, he came back Friday and laid another 181 yards on JCA in 24 carries.
"Control the clock, I told you before the game that's what we had to do," Dergo said."Morris just made too many yards on that lead play up the middle," JCA coach Dan Sharp said. "We didn't stop that play all night. They found something and stayed with it."JCA got within 21-18 when John Ruettiger found Coby Fleener with a 24-yard touchdown pass with 4 minutes 47 seconds remaining. The Hilltoppers tried an onside kick, but Morris' Steven Wagner recovered, and Sharp's fears were realized.
"We tried the onside kick because we were afraid we wouldn't get the ball back, and we didn't," he said.The Redskins delivered that kind of pounding, rushing for 268 yards in 44 attempts. That included 66 in 12 carries by Matt Peterson, who gave what he could with his hamstring miseries.
"We knew it would be a grind-it-out kind of game. It was all our offensive line again," Komperda said of tackles Eric Miller and Brian Olbrot, guards John Fuentes and Tom Doran and center Tyler Harley. "Those guys in the line, and Sean and Brenton Valentine, they all made it easy for me with their blocking."
Not that JCA did not do its share of pounding. Fullback Brandon Geiss rushed for 110 yards in 15 carries and wingback Tyler Hudetz added 69 in 11 carries as the Hilltoppers totaled 203 on the ground in 37 attempts. Morris outgained JCA 298-271 overall.
"My hat's off to those guys, especially that No. 6 (Geiss)," Brenton Valentine said. "He may not look like much (at 5 feet 7, 170 pounds), but he is an athlete.
"Sometimes backs like him and Kyle (Komperda), they have some heart just to jump over the line like they do."
After beating the Hilltoppers 28-21 in last year's much-anticipated Class 6A quarterfinal, Morris downed JCA 27-21 in Week 2 this season.
This time, JCA got the early jump, driving 72 yards in 10 plays to score on its first possession. Geiss had a 12-yard run in the march and finished it off with a 21-yard burst when he took one of those leaps as he crossed the line of scrimmage before breaking away.
But Brenton Valentine blocked the extra point, leaving the score 6-0, and that would be huge before the night was over.
An Anthony Andrews sack ended Morris' next possession, but JCA misfired on fourth-and-3 at the Redskins' 42, and Morris embarked on a 58-yard scoring drive, culminating in Komperda's 45-yard scoring burst. Fuentes kicked the extra point for a 7-6 lead the Redskins would not relinquish.
Morris drove to another scored late in the half. The TD came on a 10-yard pass from Drew Hanson to Brenton Valentine on fourth-and-goal. Hanson zipped the ball to Valentine just inside the end zone, and just before he was popped. Fuentes converted to make it 14-6 at halftime.
"I saw (linebacker Kevin) Rouse coming, and (Nick) Clancy was right there," Valentine said. 'I got crushed. I knew I had to hold on with two hands."
JCA scored on Geiss' 41-yard run with 8:31 left in the third quarter, but a two-point coversion pass was dropped, leaving the Hilltoppers down 14-12.
Morris was having none of it, however, riding Komperda 62 yards in 12 plays to go up 21-12, with Hanson scoring on a sneak. After Morris' Nathan Slattery intercepted a Ruettiger pass, JCA's Trent Earl picked off a Hanson pass, and JCA's offense kicked it into gear again. The 66-yard scoring drive ended in Ruettiger's TD pass to Fleener, but the point-after kick was wide left, leaving JCA down 21-18. The Hilltoppers would not touch the ball again.
"It came down to our not making extra points and not stopping their fourth down right before the half (on the TD pass to Valentine)," Sharp said. 'He (Valentine) got hit as he was catching the ball and he hung on. We had a couple of balls go off our fingertips. It was a game of inches tonight.
"In a way it was typical of what has happened this season. In all four lossess, we went to the wire and were so close. In the past we won these games, and this year we didn't. But I love this team. They gave it a great effort."
Before the game, Dergo had said the rest of 6A better be prepared for whichever side survived.
"What matters is winning your last game," he said with a smile. And he should know -- his first Morris team, in 2005, did exactly that, going on to win the 6A title after knocking off JCA.
Which brought up an interesting question in the minds of Dergo and his staff: When is the last time a public school won three straight over JCA, anyway?
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