Panthers knock out Govs yet again

Griffith's Ed Johnson (left) runs by Morton defender Jake Nelson.
(Jeffrey D. Nicholls/Post-Tribune)

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GRIFFITH -- Roy Richards was at an absolute loss.

The man who has spent the past 10 years bringing the Morton football program back to relevance really didn’t have an answer for what had just unfolded on a cold, blustery Friday night at the Boneyard.

He thought his team had prepared well this week. He thought, with few exceptions, his team’s execution was solid on both sides of the ball. And certainly, the effort wasn’t lacking.

After all, this was Griffith -- the Governors’ arch-nemesis -- at the Boneyard, with a sectional championship at stake. Not only that, Richards firmly believed this team was better than the one that lost to Griffith on a last-second field goal in last year’s sectional opener.

But somehow, someway, Griffith got the best of Richards and the Governors. Again.

In the process of capturing their fourth straight sectional title with a 21-7 victory, the Panthers ended Morton’s season in the sectional for the fifth straight season.

“I really don’t know how I’m going to go over there and get on that bus and go home and not just be so empty,” Richards said.

“I don’t know, is it me? Do they need something different that gets them over the hump? I don’t know. Obviously we’re doing a great job of getting to this point. I don’t know, I don’t have an answer. It’s an incredibly empty feeling.”

If it’s any consolation to Richards, the Panthers (8-5) have a way of demoralizing most opponents with their grind-it-out wishbone attack and stifling defense. That was the formula for yet another sectional title for Panthers, who were left for dead after a 1-3 start to the season.

“It’s a lot different being a senior,” said fullback Austin Guzior, who has now been a part of three sectional championship teams at Griffith. “You just want it more. It’s your last year, you’ve got to go all out.”

Guzior (12 carries, 86 yards, one touchdown) and Ed Johnson (17 carries, 91 yards, two TDs) provided the scoring for the Panthers, who held Morton’s high-powered offensive attack to just 118 yards through the air.

“We wouldn’t give them anything long,” Griffith coach Russ Radtke said, “and that kind of hurt them a little bit.”

So many times in this one-sided rivalry the Governors (7-5) have gotten behind early and been forced to play catch-up. But this time it was Morton that found the end zone first -- thanks to a big assist from outside linebacker Eddie Malatinka.

With 8:28 remaining in the second quarter, Malatinka recovered a fumble at the Panthers’ 18. On the next play, quarterback Cory Phillips raced around the right end for an 18-yard touchdown. Griffith’s answer came swiftly.

On their ensuing possession, in which Morton was flagged for two costly penalties, the Panthers marched 67 yards on eight plays. Johnson, who also had a key 27-yard run on the drive, got Griffith on the board with a 10-yard touchdown run.

But Johnson’s biggest play -- maybe the play of the game -- came on one of quarterback Greg Joyce’s three completions. On first-and-10 from the 44, one series after Guzior had broken free for a 47-yard touchdown run on the opening drive of the third quarter, Joyce audibled to a pass at the line and found Johnson on an underneath route.

The speedy sophomore did the rest, weaving his way to the end zone for a 56-yard touchdown that gave the Panthers a 21-7 lead with 5:57 left in the third.

“(Johnson) lost that fumble earlier and gave them a chance to score that touchdown, and to still come back and lead us to a victory, that’s the difference,” Radtke said. “A lot of people would have dropped their heads.”

Other than their second-quarter score, the only other time the Governors got inside the Griffith 30 was when they marched to the Panthers’ 11 on the game’s opening drive before turning the ball over on downs.

“Offensively, we had drives,” Richard said. “Defensively, we had stops. We had one turnover (a Mark Butkus interception), but we really didn’t take advantage of things I thought we could.”

Contact David Robb at drobb@post-trib.com or 648-3122