Pictured: Garrett Garbinski turned in one of many standout performances by Morgan players on Saturday with six catches for 125 yards and three touchdowns. On defense, he intercepted a pass and recovered two fumbles. (Photo by Marc Silvestrini)
By Marc Silvestrini
middlesexcountysports@gmail.com
CLINTON — It may have taken two days and about 19 hours to complete, but Morgan running back Casey Corrigan isn’t likely to forget the first quarter of the Huskies’ 54-6 win over CREC Co-Op.
The opening quarter of the game, which began on Friday at 6:30 p.m. and didn’t end until Saturday at about 1:45 p.m. after it was suspended when the lights failed to go on at Robert Brigockas Field — saw Corrigan, a sophomore, rush for 93 yards and three touchdowns on six carries.
The quarter ended with Morgan sitting on a commanding 32-6 lead, having responded to CREC’s only scoring drive of the day, a march that covered 52 yards in three plays, with 24 unanswered points.
“The big key for me is to keep my legs moving at all times, even after I get hit once or twice,” said Corrigan, who would finish the game with 123 yards on 10 carries, three touchdowns, a catch for a two-point conversion and a sack from his linebacker position on defense.
“I have to give a shout-out to my linemen,” he added. “Those guys did a great job making the holes I needed to run through.”
The Morgan victory, its second in a row on the young season, was truly a team effort. While the Huskies’ offense was piling up 54 points and 370 yards in total offense, Morgan’s defense limited the Colts to 5 yards passing and 98 yards in total offense.
Moreover, the defense and special teams forced CREC to turn the ball over on downs on three occasions while producing four turnovers and recovering two onside kicks.
“We executed well today, our offense played pretty well and the defense did a good job of containing a team that has some pretty good size and quickness,” Morgan coach Kevin Sullivan said. “We’re getting better — we’re improving — but we still have some work to do. We’re still committing way too many penalties, we’re still missing some assignments and making some mental mistakes.
“We’re eventually going to get there, but until we do it’s important that this team understands that it has to get a little bit better every week.”
Morgan began play on Saturday nursing an 8-0 lead that it had taken on its first and only possession on Friday night. Those points came on a 12-yard run by Corrigan and a two-point conversion pass from quarterback Drew Nye to Alex Fratamico, just before the field became too dark for play to continue.
As a result, the Huskies kicked off to start Saturday’s action and promptly gave up two long runs by CREC tailback Cayden Ortiz, the second of which was a 25-yard touchdown scamper that closed the gap to 8-6.
Nye — who completed 13 of his 19 passes on the game for 207 yards and four touchdowns — responded by leading a 62-yard, six-play drive that ended with Corrigan’s 28-yard scoring burst through the middle of the Colts’ defense. Garret Garbinski rushed for the two additional points that stretched the Huskies’ lead to 16-6.
Garbinski — he recovered two fumbles and an onside kick on Saturday to go along with the interception he had on Friday night — recovered his first fumble on the first play of the Colts’ ensuing possession, to give the Huskies the ball at the CREC 47. A 17-yard Nye completion to Garbinski and Corrigan’s 19-yard run set up the sophomore tailback’s third touchdown of the quarter, an 11 yard rumble off left tackle.
Nye’s two-point conversion pass to Fratamico made it 24-6, Morgan, with 2:29 to play in the quarter.
Garbinski was at it again moments later when he recovered his own onside kick at midfield, bringing Nye and the Huskies’ offense back onto the field. A 15-yard sprint by Seamus Staunton then helped set up a 13-yard touchdown strike from Nye to, appropriately enough, Garbinski.
When Fratamico hauled in his third two-point conversion pass of the game moments later, Morgan’s lead had ballooned to 32-6 with 1:14 to play in the opening quarter.
Garbinski’s second fumble recovery of the game set up a short Morgan scoring drive midway through the second quarter that ended with Nye hitting Fratamico with an eight-yard scoring pass. From there, Fratamico gathered in his fourth two-point conversion of the game to give the Huskies a 40-6 lead which they maintained through the rest of the first half.
The Huskies added two more touchdowns in the third quarter, an 18-yard Nye to Fratamico pass and a 33-yard catch and run by Garbinski, to close out the scoring.
Nye has now thrown nine touchdown passes in Morgan’s last two games.
In addition to the damage he reaped on defense, Garbinski finished with six passes caught for 125 yards and two touchdowns. Fratamico caught three passes for 57 yards and a pair of touchdowns in addition to catching the four two-pointers.
Ortiz was the lone offensive bright spots for the Colts, finishing with 65 yards and a touchdown on eight rushing attempts.
“When you have a first half where everything goes wrong and everything you do turns out bad, your first thought is to just quit,” CREC coach Chris Kennedy said. “That’s why this game is so special. It teaches you never to quit.
“Our kids got bounced around pretty good in that first half, but they didn’t quit. They came back and played better in the second half. That alone gives me hope for the future.”
Scoring
CREC…. 6 0 0 0–6
Morgan..32 8 14 0–54
Related Posts
M–Corrigan, 12-yard run (Fratamico pass from Nye)
C–Ortiz, 25-yard run (kick failed)
M–Corrigan, 28-yard run (Garbinski run)
M–Corrigan, 11-yard run (Fratamico pass from Nye)
M–Garbinski, 13-yard pass from Nye (Fratamico pass from Nye)
M–Fratamico, 8-yard pass from Nye (Fratamico pass from Nye)
M–Fratamico, 18-yard pass from Nye (Corrigan pass from Nye)
M–Garbinski, 33-yard pass from Nye (kick blocked)
Records: CREC 0-3; Morgan 2-1
Up Next: CREC hosts Old Saybrook/Westbrook, Oct. 2; Morgan hosts Valley Regional, Oct. 1.