Fleetwood, Gavin Morris, have little trouble running past out-manned Annville-Cleona (updated with boxscore)
Defense, defense, defense.
That’s what Gavin Morris talked about Thursday night after Fleetwood’s 38-14 non-league win over Annville-Cleona at Tigers Stadium.
Morris could’ve talked about other things, like his offense. He rushed for a career-high 136 yards and scored four touchdowns — one short of the program record.
The senior running back/linebacker seemed more excited about the Tigers’ defensive effort, one that saw them limit the over-matched Little Dutchmen to two first downs in the first half and just 38 rushing yards through three quarters.
“We know our offense is really good, and we know we can keep it going with (quarterback) Tanner (Maddocks) and all our weapons,” Morris said after the Tigers’ first win. “This year we just really needed to step up on defense.
“All through the summer we focused on defense, defense, defense. Seventy-five percent (of our work this summer) was defense. We really wanted to instill that mindset.
“Coach (Bob) Kutzler’s been doing a great job,” Morris said of the Tigers’ defensive coordinator. “He’s instilled a different mindset with us. We’re just ready to be dogs and pound it.”
The Tigers (1-1) were just bigger and stronger up front and overwhelmed the Little Dutchmen. They sacked quarterback Gavin Keller five times and recorded four tackles for losses on run plays.
Before Annville-Cleona managed its initial first down the Tigers were up 20-0.
Fleetwood took the ball and went right down the field, scoring on each of its first four possessions. Maddocks, a Villanova recruit who can really sling it, pretty much kept his weapon holstered. He did all the damage he needed with his legs, running for 93 of his 109 yards in the first half, including a 5-yard TD run.
He also had early runs of 20 and 33 yards, setting up Morris for TDs on runs of 5 and 1 yards, and on a shovel pass that Morris took in from the 9.
Maddocks threw just 10 times. Nothing more was needed.
“We don’t (need to) show all the cards,” said Fleetwood coach Steve Beatty, “not if we don’t have to.”
They didn’t have to. Morris was running hard enough, and his big offensive line was controlling things effectively enough, that they moved the chains at will.
The Tigers ran for first downs on their first three snaps, with Morris going for 13, Maddocks for 20, then Morris for another 10. On and on it went.
Fleetwood led 20-0 two plays into the second quarter and 26-0 on Morris’ 1-yard plunge five minutes before half.
“We’re trying to run the ball more this year,” said Beatty. “Once we started getting the lead, we were just trying to run the clock at that point.”
Morris, a 5-9, 195-pound senior, simply bullied his way down the field. He doesn’t earn a lot of style points, but doesn’t care, either.
“I just like to run through people,” he said. “I’ll put a move on every once in a while to keep ’em honest, but honestly, I’ll just run you over. I get all the yards I can, (try to) fall forward. I don’t really like juking.”
“He’s a plugger,” Beatty said. “The kid’s strong up the middle.”
Morris was just as important on defense, where he recorded 1 1/2 sacks and a tackle for loss. He was playing so hard he cramped up late in the third quarter and had to come out. He returned to score his fourth TD.
Only Tyler Emge, in a 2014 Eastern Conference playoff win vs. Honesdale, has scored five times in a game.
Annville-Cleona was playing its first game — it had to postpone its opener last week vs. Schuylkill Valley because of a COVID issue — and won’t be nearly as strong as some of the teams the Tigers see in the coming weeks.
Still, Beatty liked what he saw, especially on the defensive side.
A year ago they allowed 37.6 points per game and gave up more yardage than any team in the league.
“We’ve definitely improved on defense,” said Beatty. “That was our problem last year. We could score, we couldn’t stop anybody. The first two games we’ve been pretty good.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Annville-Cleona | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 14 |
| Fleetwood | 14 | 12 | 6 | 6 | 38 |
Scoring summary
| Team | Player | Play | From | PAT Player | Extra Point |
| Fleetwood | Maddocks | 5 run | Maddocks | kick | |
| Fleetwood | Morris | 9 pass | Maddocks | Maddocks | kick |
| Fleetwood | Morris | 5 run | Run failed | ||
| Fleetwood | Morris | 1 run | Pass failed | ||
| Annville-Cleona | Music | 8 pass | Keller | Verhagen | kick |
| Fleetwood | Fickes | 1 run | Pass failed | ||
| Fleetwood | Morris | 6 run | Pass failed | ||
| Annville-Cleona | Harter | 63 run | Verhagen | kick | |
Team statistics
| Annville-Cleona | Fleetwood | |
| First downs | 11 | 18 |
| Rushes-yards | 34-137 | 45-338 |
| Passing yards | 56 | 61 |
| Total yards | 193 | 399 |
| Passes | 5-12-0 | 6-11-0 |
| Fumbles-lost | 2-0 | 0-0 |
| Punts-average | 4-28.7 | 3-44.3 |
| Penalties-yards | 4-21 | 9-70 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Annville-Cleona: Harter 10-106, Maguire 6-15, Connelly 3-15, Casciotti 3-13, Keller 12-(-12).
Fleetwood: Morris 17-136, Maddocks 16-109, Ramsey 6-57, Fickes 3-22, Moyer 1-9, Zimmerman 2-5.
PASSING
Annville-Cleona: Keller 5-10-0–56, Connelly 0-1-0–0, Team 0-1-0–0.
Fleetwood: Maddocks 6-10-0–61, Riffle 0-1-0–0.
RECEIVING
Annville-Cleona: Long 2-34, Music 2-17, Schriver 1-5.
Fleetwood: Morris 3-12, Musitano 2-36, Fickes 1-13.
