Morgan County handled business in its season opener Aug. 16 against Warren County.
The game was postponed from Friday to Saturday due to severe weather conditions, but that didn’t affect the Dogs (1-0) as they dominated the Screaming Devils 53-16 at Albert J. Massey Field.
Morgan County used a balanced offensive attack, amassing 370 yards on that side of the ball against Warren County. The Dogs accumulated 181 yards through the air and 189 yards on the ground in the victory.
“We were about as balanced as you can get on offense,” Morgan County head coach Clint Jenkins said.
The Dogs had a slow start offensively, punting on their first drive, then stopped on fourth down during the next possession. They scored on their third drive.
Senior quarterback Davis Strickland connected with senior tight end Drew Ainslie inside Warren’s 10-yard line. Senior tailback Christian Monfort then scored one of his team-high three rushing touchdowns on the next play.
Monfort extended Morgan’s lead with another rushing touchdown at the 11:08 mark of the second quarter.
The Screaming Devils got on the board during the next drive, as running back Josiah Lane broke off a long touchdown run. But the Dogs didn’t falter, scoring touchdowns on their next three drives to lead 35-13 at the half.
Strickland threw his first of three touchdowns to senior wideout Ty Tillery, making it a 21-7 game. Warren returned the following kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown, but that was as close as the game would get.
Montfort’s final score came on the next possession. Strickland then connected with senior wideout Wyatt Singleton for one of his two receiving touchdowns. He caught his second on the first drive of the second half.
“Wyatt made a couple of big catches for touchdowns,” Jenkins stated. “We discussed the need to replace Jaylen Elder from last year with new production. Wyatt was one of the players we expected to step up, along with others like Tillery and Drew Ainslie, to compensate for the production we lost. It was a nice start.”
Strickland was efficient, completing 11 of 18 passes for 189 yards and three touchdowns. Singleton caught three balls for a total of 83 yards and two scores.
Montfort carried the load on the ground, rushing for 104 yards on 14 attempts with three scores. Junior Alex Corrias rushed the ball seven times for 77 yards and a touchdown late in the game.
Jenkins believed his team moved the ball carefully and also had a few explosive plays to score. He also recognized his team’s slow start on offense and said once the unit got going, it was “hard to stop.”
“It was a good mixture,” Jenkins said. “I also thought our defense actually got out and played very physical early. They set us up with some good field position. We got down inside their 30 early, and came up short on the first two possessions, which was disappointing … but when we finally broke through, we were hard to stop.”