Kankakee scored the last 30 points Saturday afternoon in their 36-21 win over Morris in the class 5A quarterfinals.The Redskins had leads of 14-0, and 21-6, but the Kays rallied, and ran away with the win. They rushed for over 300 yards. Morris didn't get over 100 yards on the ground.
Still, it seemed that when Adam Tondini scored late in the 2nd quarter to answer Kankakee's earlier score, and put Morris back up by two touchdowns, that the Redskins would be able to hold off the Kays and get a win.
But, Kankakee marched down the field, got a score on a 28-yard run, and pulled to within seven points.
Then, the turning point in the game: Morris got the kickoff inside their 20. With under 1:30 remaining in the half, and with Kankakee having only two timeouts remaining, Morris could have run the ball three straight times, and at worst, punted to the Kays with only about :20 remaining.
However, on 2nd and 12, Morris tried a pass that was incomplete, allowing the Kays to save their last timeout. So, when Morris punted on 4th down, there was still :59 left on the clock.
That allowed the Kays to have enough time to move the ball down the field, and score the touchdown that ended up giving them the lead for good with just :14 left in the half.
Two more touchdowns in the 2nd half, and the ballgame was over for Morris.
Still, a great comeback for the Redskins after beginning the year 2-4. Finishing strong with 5 straight wins heading into Saturday was a nice accomplishment for a team that had many doubters midway through the season.
As for the cold, I managed to stay fairly warm -- I did the broadcast from the bleachers -- except for my feet.I wore a thermal undershirt, turtleneck, long sleeve pullover, hooded sweatshirt, and heavy coat. I went with the thermal underwear, jeans, two pairs of socks, and set my feet on top of some cardboard to reduce cold coming from the aluminum bleachers. The toes were still a bit frosty.
Without much to cheer about in the 2nd half, my guess is the Morris fans -- who were facing the stiff breeze all day -- were a little frosty as well.
On to basketball.
