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Governors win another classic
Updated: May 9, 2012 9:58AM
HAMMOND — There’s something about the Morton-Griffith rivalry that can’t be beat.
Talk about intensity.
Talk about passion.
Talk about excitement.
Talk about maybe needing to have your heart checked to make sure it can withstand it all.
By the time the final second had elapsed, it was the Morton Governors who were standing.
They were standing in the middle of Zlotnik Field holding the Class 4A Sectional 9 championship trophy after surviving a wild Griffith rally to emerge with a pulsating 27-26 win over the Panthers (8-4) Friday night.
It was the third straight sectional title for Morton (11-1), which hosts South Bend Washington (9-3) in a Class 4A regional next week.
“Every time we play those guys it’s really not playing for a trophy, it’s about playing them, and for them, it’s about playing us,’’ Morton coach Roy Richards said. “It’s really come down to that. When we won the (previous) two years, it wasn’t the same playing for it without them.’’
There it is again. There’s something about the rivalry between the Governors and the Panthers that’s difficult to put a finger on, really.
Maybe it’s the fact Griffith used to beat up on Morton most — if not all of the time — before Richards had his program headed in the right direction.
Morton’s win Friday night was its second over the Panthers this season — it won the season-opener at Griffith, 21-14.
The Governors used a 5-yard touchdown pass from Chris
McCormack to Eleazar Henderson to take a 7-0 lead.
Tyler Yost answered for Griffith with a 25-yard scoring pass from Austin Brown, but the Panthers missed the first of what proved to be a pair of critical extra point kicks.
The last PAT miss occured with 2:27 remaining in the game following a 3-yard TD run by Brown that pulled the Panthers — who twice trailed by 15 points at 21-6 and 27-12 — within 27-26.
“It was best to go for the tie there,’’ Griffith coach Russ Radtke said. “I’ve only had the kid for three weeks, so I can’t really blame him. He tried his best and just missed.’’
Radtke was not only disappointed in the pair of missed PATs, but also that his team lost a pair of fumbles — one led to a Morton TD — and the fact the special teams allowed Alfred Dickey to race 95 yards with a first-quarter kickoff return for a TD that gave Morton a 14-6 lead.
“Field position, turnovers, specialty teams … .we fell apart and I don’t know why,’’ he said.
After Dickey’s kickoff return for a TD, Griffith fumbled the short kickoff that followed and Morton recovered at the Panthers’ 46.
That mistake led to a 2-yard TD run on fourth-and-goal by McCormack, who threw a pair of scoring passes, and gave Morton what appeared to be a commanding 21-6 lead with 9:25 left in the second period.
Brown fumbled on Griffith’s next play from scrimmage at the Panthers’ 39 and Morton again recovered. But two penalties against the Governors crippled a chance to score again and possibly put the game out of reach.
Morton led 21-6 at the break, but Griffith closed the gap to 21-12 early in the third period, before Robert House caught a 46-yard TD pass from McCormack to give Morton a 27-12 lead.
Richards then rolled the dice and gambled on Morton’s next possession, making a call that nearly turned the game in Griffith’s favor.
He faked the punt on fourth down and had McCormack throw a pass from the Morton 18 to House, who nearly caught it for a first down.
Griffith took the opportunity at the Morton 18 to score eight points and cut its deficit to 27-20 — Brett Brinkley scored on a 4-yard run and Brown ran for two points.
“The last punt was blocked that we had,’’ Richards said. “They were going after it. I didn’t think it really made much difference whether they had the ball on our 40 or our 30 (if we punted).
“We told our guys we weren’t going to be conservative and let up on the gas at all. You can win big games and you can lose big games that way. I told the kids I want to gamble and I want to go for it. They said, ‘That’s cool.’ I thought we had the play there, it just didn’t work.’’
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