Morgan tramples over Warren with a narrow victory
By: Andrew Bowlby
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VINCENT, Ohio (WOUB) — Morgan and Warren met in week two for the second straight season after Morgan’s 28-14 victory last year. This year’s matchup put two potent offenses against each other playing under the lights on military appreciation night.
Both teams rolled into this matchup coming off of week one victories in the rear-view mirror. Morgan came in after beating River View 54-34 last week, and Warren came in riding high after a 62-0 win over Belpre.
On the opening drive of the night Morgan walked right down the field and quarterback Logan Niceswanger completed a pass to wide open Kole Searl for the 7-0 lead. Not to be outdone Warren answered right back with a 32-yard touchdown to freshman wide receiver Tanner Pepper.
Late in the first quarter Warren kept the momentum rolling and with a two-pass trick play caught by Trey Mendenhall that gave them the lead 14-7. Quickly Morgan responded with a 75-yard pass to Kole Searl, and a Wade Pauly goal-line rush they were within an extra point of tying the game, but that kick would be no good.
The following drive from Warren was led by their star running back Jason Williams, following a long run that set the Warriors in prime position he punched it in and extended the Warren led to 21-13. As quickly as the lead built to eight the Raiders put on a drive with multiple chunk plays that pushed them quickly down the field and after a quarterback keeper touchdown and a two-point conversion the game was knotted up at 21.
In the final few minutes of the opening half Morgan back Carson Copeland ran an eight-yard sweep in untouched and the Raiders regained the lead. A strong two-minute drill drive allowed for Warren to get a field goal as time expired and the game went to halftime at 28-24 Morgan.
After a high scoring and exciting first half the flow of the game changed coming back from halftime. Both teams locked up on defense and the offense seemingly stalled. The chunk plays and dazzling runs from the first half were gone and after 24 minutes of hard-fought defensive football the score was unchanged.
Morgan was able to close out this game behind Logan Niceswanger who threw for 283 yards and one touchdown. Despite the 141 yards from Warriors back Jason Williams Warren fell just short tonight 28-24 to Morgan.