Turnovers doom Minooka in loss to Morris

This is the 100th year of Morris football and Minooka was in a giving mood during their season-opening, nonconference tilt Friday in Morris.

Morris took advantage of a half dozen Minooka mistakes to post a 27-21 victory in a battle of former Southwest Prairie Conference foes.

Minooka (0-1) committed five turnovers and gave up a pair of long returns that set up first-half scores for Morris (1-0).

“It was a game of mistakes and the team that makes the least amount of mistakes usually wins,” Morris coach Alan Thorsen said. “It was not a perfect game by either team. It was a typical game one, without a doubt. We capitalized on their mistakes.”

“I feel bad for our kids because this was a pretty important game for our kids and our community,” Minooka coach Bert Kooi said.

Morris quarterback Austin Feeney completed 9 of 14 passes for 110 yards. He also ran for a score. Nik Countryman recovered a fumble and returned a blocked punt 59 yards to set up scores.

After Luke Stovall caught a 25-yard touchdown pass from Joe Carnagio to give Minooka a 7-0 lead with 5:40 left in the first quarter, Morris scored 20 straight points over the next eight minutes.

Danny Friend caught an 18-yard touchdown pass from Feeney, tying the game at 7 with 1:29 to play in the first quarter. Countryman’s return set up a 1-yard plunge by Feeney, which gave the Redskins the lead for good at 14-7 with 9:18 left in the second.

Minooka mishandled a lateral pass and Friend picked it up and scampered to the Minooka 9, setting up another score.

Feeney hit Anthonee Monson from 8 yards away to give the hosts a 20-7 lead with 6:29 left in the half.

A 3-yard touchdown run by Kalvin Hill (16 carries, 117 yards, two touchdowns) with 3:59 to play in the third quarter shaved the lead to 20-14.

Morris’ Jake Hogen returned a fumbled punt 15 yards for a touchdown which bumped the lead to 27-14 with 8:04 to play in the game.

Hill’s 2-yard touchdown cut the lead to 27-20 with 3:14 left.

Minooka held and got the ball back at its own 43 with 2:08 to play in the game. However, two plays later, it turned it over again and Countryman’s recovery sealed it.

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