Oak Park-River Forest’s fast start too much for Morton

Oak Park-River Forest 41, Morton 6

THE SKINNY

Oak Park-River Forest dominated from the start in a West Suburban Conference crossover game Friday night in Berwyn, scoring on five straight possessions to open the game. The Huskies opened up a 34-0 lead while also forcing two first-half Morton turnovers.

TURNING POINT

OPRF (8-1) already had a 14-0 lead when senior linebacker Sam Cottingham-Beard pounced on a first quarter Morton (1-8) fumble deep in Mustangs territory. Two plays later, senior rusher Jamal Baggett raced for his second score on a 14-yard run, giving the Huskies a 21-0 lead.

THE STAR

Quarterback Lloyd Yates did not play much at all over the final three quarters for OPRF, but he did plenty of damage in the opening period. The junior completed 6-of-9 passes for 201 yards in the first half, including scoring strikes to Jeremy Moore, Simmie Cobbs Jr. and Ke Juan Ratcliff.

BY THE NUMBERS

After getting shut out in consecutive contests against Leyden and Hinsdale South, Morton continued its scoreless streak for three more quarters Friday, before finding the end zone in the fourth quarter. After a second quarter score was nullified by a penalty, Morton scored on a three-yard run by Jose Flores with just over eight minutes left in the contest.

QUOTABLE

“Our goal tonight was to get guys in and get guys out real fast, especially the starters. We wanted to get some other guys reps, and that worked real well; it was 28-0 in the first quarter. This whole year our defense has been turning it up, the intensity. That is our goal every game, to allow no points.” — Baggett