Pat Harty

Your Prep Sports 

IOWA CITY – Senior Marcus Morgan is used to getting most of the attention as West High’s talented dual-threat quarterback.

But he was glad to share the spotlight on Friday with the West High defense, which led the way to a 27-0 victory over Liberty High in the season opener at Liberty.

“We’ve got some dudes,” Morgan said of his defense, which allowed zero passing yards and was on the attack from start to finish. “We’ve got lots of dudes and they’ve got that dog mentality. They’re going to do some really good stuff this year as well.”

Morgan certainly did his part with 195 passing yards and 75 rushing yards.

But it took the West High offense a little time to start clicking as its first drive of the game ended with Morgan throwing an interception under pressure.

West High also punted on its second offensive possession of the game, but then Morgan started to show on the third possession some of the skills that make him a star.

He directed a 60-yard drive that ended with senior running back Trey King scoring on an 11-yard run on the first play of the second quarter.

West High failed on the conversion run and also failed to score any more points in the first half and led 6-0 at halftime.

The third quarter is when Morgan and his offensive cohorts really started to click.

After forcing Liberty into a three-and-out to begin the third quarter, West took over at the 50 and then drove for a touchdown on eight plays.

Morgan scored the touchdown on a 13-run around right end.

Owen Smith converted the point-after kick to give West High a 13-0 lead.

“Defense was great and we had to iron some things out on offense after a little shaky start,” Morgan said. “We reset and just went back to work, and went back to what we’ve been practicing the last three weeks.”

Meanwhile, the Liberty offense suffered a huge setback when senior running back Max Tafolla injured his right ankle early in the game. He tried to play through the pain, but finally was helped off the field in the fourth quarter and put on crutches.

“That’s life, and if these guys don’t understand adversity, and it’s also a good lesson to our younger kids, just because you’re number two or number three, let’s go in there and fight,” said Liberty coach Jeff Gordon. “And we think the world of Max, but we’ve got a lot of other capable guys that are able to play.

“Our heart goes out to him, and hopefully, we’ll rub some dirt on it and he’ll be ready to go next week.”

The loss of its 1,000-yard rusher from last season, coupled with the absence of a passing attack, put Liberty first-year starting quarterback James McKinney Jr. in a precarious position.

West High loaded the box on defense and had multiple players blitzing throughout the game. There were many plays in which McKinney was forced to scramble from the pocket, if he could even make that far.

“Liberty is a physical team watching their film from last year, and they understand what they want to do,” said West High coach Garrett Hartwig. “And if you don’t match their intensity at the line of scrimmage, you’re going to get beat.

“So I was pleased with how our guys came out. They fought and they were ready.”

West High scored its third touchdown on a 3-yard pass from Morgan to fullback Boaz Abramoff with 5 minutes, 4 seconds left in the third quarter.

Morgan then connected with senior Grahm Goering on a 22-yard scoring strike with 8:30 left in the fourth quarter.

That was more than enough points with the West High defense dominating the line of scrimmage.

“Hats off to West High,” said Gordon, who graduated from West High. “They’ve got a great coaching staff and they’re great players. And I’m sure they’ll have a lot of success this year.

“So it’s nice to see what we’ve got to get to.”

Friday’s game marked the first time that West High and Liberty have met in football. The Lightning made the jump to Class 4A this season after having competed in Class 3A in its first two seasons as a varsity program.

Liberty finished 7-3 and made the Class 3A playoffs last season, while West High finished 4-5 last season and didn’t make the playoffs.

Morgan and his teammates are on a mission to get back to the playoffs, and Friday’s performance was certainly a good start.

Trey King showed his versatility and value by catching by six passes for 56 yards, and by rushing for 54 yards, including 52 in the first half when the offense was sputtering.

Goering also gives West High a threat on the perimeter as he finished five receptions for 92 yards.

“We’ve been working in the offseason and I can’t wait to see what that kid is going to do,” Morgan said of Goering. “He’s going to have a great year.”

Friday’s game was played with no fans in attendance, and with social distancing guidelines being enforced.

However, there were people from both schools that gathered in the parking lot just south of the football stadium and watched the game from there, and from behind the chain-link fence that surrounds the stadium.

There was a threat of bad weather, but that threat never materialized on a hot and sticky late August night.

For about 2 ½ hours, life felt normal again as both teams just played football.

The mostly empty stadium was a constant reminder that Friday’s game was being played during a global pandemic, along with the extended timeouts and people wearing masks.

“In the moment, it’s not a big deal at all, but you notice it with the extended timeouts and things like that,” Hartwig said. “But at the end of the day, we’re playing football and that’s all you can ask for.”

  ICW                     ICL

First downs                 17                           7

Rushes-yards            33-159                39-98

Passing yards             195                        0

Penalties-yards          5-40                    8-56

Fumbles-lost               2-1                        3-1

Punts                           3-40.1                 7-37.8

Individual statistics

RUSHING – West High: Marcus Morgan 11-75, Trey Smith 9-54, Grahm Goering 3-13, Fabian Brown 6-7, Conor O’Neal 1-7, Boaz Abramoff 1-3. Liberty High: Darius Willis-Newell 11-55, Max Tofolla 14-25, James McKinney Jr. 13-9 Michael Miller 1-9.

PASSING  – West High: Marcus Morgan 19-27-1-195

RECEIVING  – West High: Grahm Goering 5-92, Trey Smith 5-56, Mikey Crutcher 4-25, Damarion Williams 2-21.

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