Morrisville comes out flat, falls to Lower Moreland

MORRISVILLE – Although Morrisville is a dramatically improved football team this year, it’s still a work in progress when it comes to having a killer mentality.

This point was on display at the Robert Morris Stadium Monday night when Morrisville dropped a 10-7 decision to previously winless Lower Moreland in a game it probably should have won.

Morrisville’s undoing was an uninspired first half that resulted in a 10-0 deficit. The Bulldogs were by far the better team in the last two quarters, but they couldn’t quite dig their way out of a hole they largely self-created.

“I don’t know, I guess it’s about taking the next step when you are trying to build a program,” said Morrisville coach Derrick Savage after his team dropped to 2-2.

“We had nothing in the first half. We had no desire. You have to be ready to play a full 48. Lower Moreland was ready to go at 7 o’clock and we were not.”

After forcing a Morrisville punt to open the game, Lower Moreland put together the only drive it finished all evening by going 55 yards on eight plays and scoring on a 13-yard run by Matt Gallagher.

The 7-0 score stood up until the end of the second quarter when Lions kicker Charley Butz boomed a 20-yard field goal.

Morrisville just couldn’t get going offensively in the first half and also hurt itself by inadvertently touching a Lower Moreland punt that allowed the visitors to take over at the Bulldog 37 yard line. This mistake led to the Lower Moreland field goal.

The second half was an entirely different story as Mo’ville put the brakes on Gallagher and the Lower Moreland running game. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs’ rushing game really came on as hard running Zymer Williams and Josh Smith repeatedly gashed the Lower Moreland defense.

Morrisville’s first possession of the second half resulted in a beautiful 13-play drive that went 98 yards and was capped by a 7-yard TD run by Williams. A pair of passes from Mike Sacco to James Williams were two key plays in the drive.

Led by a big hit from Smith at middle linebacker, the Bulldogs then appeared to stop Lower Moreland again, only to get called for pass interference. This allowed the Lions to chew up more clock and the Dawgies didn’t get the ball back until there was 7:30 remaining.

Once again, Morrisville moved the ball, starting with Zymir Williams picking up three yards on a fourth-and-two play from his team’s own 10-yard line. The Bulldogs’ drive eventually neared midfield, but ended when Josh Wattenmaker recorded his second interception of the game.

Lower Moreland ran out the clock from there, resulting in Morrisville having only two possessions in the entire second half. In addition to his field goal, Butz also hurt the Bulldogs with several punts that pinned the Dawgies near their own goal line.

“Our defense was pretty good after that first drive and I thought our running backs were pretty good,” said Savage. “I didn’t know what we would be this year. I had no idea what to expect, but I was not expecting this tonight.”

Translation: He expected to win. This in itself represents significant progress.

Contact the author at rfortenbaugh@trentonian.com, or @RickFort7 on Twitter

Lower Moreland 10, Morrisville 7

(Sept. 28 at Morrisville)

Lower Moreland (1-3) 7 3 0 0 – 10

Morrisville (2-2) 0 0 7 0 – 7

SUMMARY

First Quarter

LM — Gallagher 13 run (Butz kick)

Second Quarter

LM — Butz 20 field goal

Third Quarter

M — Zymir Williams 7 run (Bonilla kick)