Coaching is stressful enough without going through the wringer Milwaukee Morse-Marshall coach Scott Hawkins has experienced the past two weeks.
There was a last-second loss to Milwaukee King on Sept. 7 and an upset victory over Milwaukee Riverside last Saturday. On Friday the Eagles scored their most dramatic win yet.
Down seven with 1 minute 18 seconds left, Morse-Marshall got some quick thinking from its coaching staff and a long kickoff return from senior Desean Jones. That led to a touchdown by senior quarterback Jordan Thornton with 19 seconds left and a two-point conversion that gave the Eagles a 22-21 victory over Milwaukee Pulaski on the road.
Afterward Hawkins needed his blood-pressure medicine.
"I've got some and might go take an extra pill today," he joked. "We let the King game get away. I guess they like pressure. I don't, but apparently my kids like it."
Thornton completed 10 of 29 passes for 245 yards and threw a 48-yard touchdown pass to senior running back Kevon Ellis in the second quarter for the Eagles, who improved to 2-3 overall and 2-1 in the City Conference. Terry Island, a senior running back, had 59 yards in 17 carries. Senior receiver Mike Harris caught four passes for 110 yards.
Junior quarterback Daniel Lopez was 11 for 18 for 117 yards and a touchdown for Pulaski, which dropped to 2-3 overall and 2-1 in the City. Lopez had another touchdown pass, a 60-yard play midway through the third quarter, called back because of penalty.
Strangely one of the Rams' penalties almost won the game for them.
With Morse-Marshall trailing, 15-14, Pulaski junior linebacker KiOntis Pierce intercepted a pass and returned it 58 yards for a touchdown to give the Rams a 21-14 lead with 1:18 left.
Pulaski committed a penalty on the return, however. Normally coaches accept the penalty and take the points off the board. This time, however, Hawkins, taking the advice of assistant coach David Terpstra, declined the penalty, allowed the score and after the Rams missed the extra point was still in position to win the game.
Had Hawkins accepted the penalty Pulaski could have closed the game by taking a knee.
"It was a good coaching decision to get the ball back and go for it, but at the end it was all heart," Thornton said. "Our team played together and when it came down to it, we played as a family."
The Eagles' previous drive stalled after Lopez picked off a pass in the end zone on a fourth-and-6 play. When they got back the ball they put the pressure on the Pulaski defense with a 50-yard kickoff return by Jones that gave his team first down at the Rams 30.
"We had 10 guys on that last kickoff. A kid never went out there and they ran right up his lane," Pulaski coach Greg Roman said. "High school football, right, that's what happens. We had no timeouts left so there was nothing we could do about it."
Thornton didn't miss the rest of the night. On first down he hit Harris for a 9-yard gain. The next play he found Harris across the middle for 13 yards to the 8. After scrambling to the 1, Thornton scored on a quarterback sneak to pull the Eagles within a point.
Senior Kewaun Smith did the rest, using his 5-foot-10, 200-pound frame to shake off contact at the line of scrimmage and fight his way into the end zone for the deciding two points.
Another hard-fought victory would soon be in the books.
"At the end you've got to fight," Ellis said. "You've got to fight to win."
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