Special teams ‘fall apart’

Updated: November 4, 2011 11:07PM

HAMMOND — Offense and defense for Griffith?

Panthers coach Russ Radtke called those phases of the game “fantastic.”

Special teams?

Um, not so much.

Griffith missed two extra points, and a two-point conversion attempt, and Morton had a 95-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in Friday night’s Class 4A Sectional 9 championship game.

That third phase indeed made a difference in the Governors’ 27-26 victory over the Panthers, Morton’s third consecutive sectional title.

“Special teams, we fell apart,” said Radtke, also lamenting Griffith not recovering at least one of the two onside kicks it attempted. “Of course, they executed.

“The kicking game was pathetic.”

Griffith drew to 27-26 on Austin Brown’s 3-yard touchdown run with 2:27 left in the fourth quarter. But the Panthers then missed the tying PAT, after they also had missed on their first touchdown.

“I’ve only had the kicker for three weeks, so I can’t really blame him,” Radtke said of Steven Sharp, who joined the football team after Griffith’s soccer season ended and wasn’t even listed on the roster distributed at Friday’s game. “He tries.

“He tried his best. He missed.”

Radtke thought about going for the go-ahead two-point conversion, but he thought the Panthers had momentum, could tie the score, get a stop and then position themselves for a game-winning field goal.

“If we made the earlier one, that one would’ve given us the lead, too,” Radtke added.

Alfred Dickey’s 95-yard kickoff return for a touchdown with 24.6 seconds left in the first quarter gave the Governors a 14-6 lead, after the Panthers had answered Morton’s TD on the game’s opening possession with a score.

“Usually, that’s our Achilles’ heel,” Governors coach Roy Richards said of special teams. “We’ve really worked on it. Now, if you kick it to us, there’s a danger there.”

The Governors overcame a potentially momentum-changing decision in the third quarter.

Leading 27-12, Morton opted to fake a punt on fourth-and-6 from its 18-yard line, with quarterback and punter Chris McCormack nearly connecting but the pass falling incomplete with 4:21 left.

Griffith turned that opportunity into Brett Brinkley’s 2-yard touchdown run with 3:51 left and Brown’s conversion run to draw the Panthers to 27-20. Richards steadfastly defended the call.

“They blocked the one before, and they were coming after this one,” he said, adding the Governors had planned to employ such a fake punt if they saw a certain look from the Panthers, which they got. “We haven’t been punting well. They’re going to get the ball at the 50 or our 40 — what’s the difference? We weren’t going to be conservative.

“If that’s the way you coach, you’re never going to win a trophy. You have to go after things.”

And, after defeating the Panthers for the fifth straight time in what has developed into a premier rivalry, now the Governors will be going after their second straight regional title, against South Bend Washington, at home.

Richards thanked everyone for picking against his 10-1 Morton team, on its own field, in this game against Griffith, a team it had topped 21-14 in Week 1. He encouraged everyone to continue to do so.

“The kids are eating this stuff up,” he said.

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