Morton defeats Mahomet-Seymour football in season opener
By FRED KRONER
Mahomet-Seymour Football
Mahomet-Seymour’s 19-game regular-season football winning streak came to an end in the 2023 opening game on Friday night (Aug. 24) at Morton.
The Potters rallied with two second-half touchdowns and edged the Bulldogs 20-14 in a non-conference game.
“We’re a young team and we grew up,” M-S head coach Jon Adkins said. “We had a lot of new kids getting their first varsity action.
“We’re not rookies anymore. This was good for us.”
In his varsity starting debut, junior quarterback Lucas Dyer completed 21 of 39 passes for 205 yards. He was intercepted three times.
Senior Luke Johnson, already a three-year letterman in football, scored both M-S touchdowns.
Each TD was followed by a conversion kick by sophomore Jackson Davis.
The Bulldogs led 7-6 at intermission and added to their lead 16 seconds after the second half started.
Braden Pagel returned the second-half pooch kickoff 55 yards, to set M-S up at the Potters’ 12-yard line.
Johnson raced to the end zone on the next play and Davis’ kick lifted the visitors into a 14-6 lead.
Morton, however, responded with two TDs before the third period ended and took its first lead with 1 minute, 34 seconds left in the third quarter.
“We had too many first-game mistakes,” Adkins said, “but Morton will win a lot of games. When you make mistakes against good teams, they will take advantage.
“They are great up front and have two backs who ran hard (each eclipsing 150 yards rushing). We had our hands full. We have to go back to work and learn from it.”
Johnson led the Bulldogs in rushing with 43 yards on 16 carries. Raymond Long was the receiving leader, gaining 110 yards on his four receptions. Trey Peters hauled in four passes for 46 yards and Pagel caught six passes for 24 yards.
Defensively, Tyler Majeres and Jayvon Irwin each collected 10 tackles for the Bulldogs. Donovan Lewis had nine stops and Brayden Garrett ended with seven tackles. Finishing with six tackles apiece were Jack Gallier and Brock VanDeveer.
“Lewis was incredible,” Adkins said, “putting guys in the right spots and he had a couple of pass breakups. He was awesome.”
Lewis matched his career-high for tackles. Both Irwin and Majeres set new high-game totals.
“Irwin played hard and was around the ball,” Adkins said. “You can never take away his effort. He has a non-stop motor.”
The Bulldogs forced four Morton turnovers. Gallier, Colby Crowley and Lewis all intercepted a pass. Garrett recovered a fumble by the quarterback.
The M-S linebacking crew featured three underclassmen, juniors Ethan Esker, Henry Wagner and Brock VanDeveer.
“None of the three started last year,” Adkins said.
Though the Bulldogs have experience upfront with Gallier and Irwin holdovers, they are in new roles.
Irwin was the noseguard in 2022 and Gallier was an end. They switched positions for their senior seasons. Sophomore end Noah Frank is another newcomer on the defensive front.
Gallier’s third-quarter interception – on a ball tipped by a linebacker – was followed by a 49-yard return.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t come away with any points after he rumbled downfield,” Adkins said.
Neither team reached the end zone in the fourth quarter, but the Bulldogs almost had a chance for late-game heroics.
“Morton was trying to run out the clock and the quarterback took a knee with four seconds to go,” Adkins related, “but the officials let the clock run out and didn’t give it to us (at the Morton 12-yard line).
“They did blow that last call on a judgment call, but we’re not going to put it (the loss) in the hands of the officials. We have to take care of business before that. You don’t give up 350 yards rushing (like the Bulldogs did) and blame the loss on the officials.
“We made too many first-game mistakes. We had a couple key big mistakes that gave up scores.”
M-S, which again this season has no two-way starters, features an offensive line where three sophomores are starters: left guard Oliver Smith, left tackle Noah Daniels and right tackle Philip Daniels.
“We knew we would have some growing pains, and we have to grow up together,” Adkins said. “I’m happy the way the kids responded to adversity.
“I can’t wait to see where we go from here. It was a great ball game and we fought until the end. We want and embrace the opportunity to face a great 5A club.”
M-S (0-1) returns to action on Friday (Sept. 1) in its home-opener (and the annual Dawgapalooza game) against Highland (1-0), which posted a 34-14 Week 1 victory.
“We hope to bounce back,” Adkins said. “We knew games like this would make our club better.”
The Bulldogs have won 15 consecutive home games since a loss during the COVID season (when fall football was moved to the spring by the IHSA). The last home loss was on March 19, 2021, a 21-7 setback against fourth-ranked Effingham in that season’s opening game.
The Week 2 game will be one of four that M-S will play at Frank Dutton Field during the regular season.
