Morrisville-Eaton football dominates battle of eight player unbeatens
DeWITT - The Morrisville-Eaton Warriors staked a firm claim to the top of Section III's Eight Player West Division Saturday with a 77-34 win at Bishop Grimes in a battle of midseason unbeatens in greater Syracuse.
A catastrophic first two minutes left Bishop Grimes' Cobras (3-1) playing catchup for the rest of the afternoon. Austin Zaleski ran 59 yards for a Morrisville-Eaton touchdown on the game's second play from scrimmage.
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Shawn Murry then covered a loose ball on the kickoff and regained possession for Morrisville-Eaton (4-0) at Bishop Grimes' 8-yard line; Levi Doroshenko passed to Carter Highers for a touchdown and again for the two point conversion to out the Warriors up 14-0 with 10:05 left in the first quarter.
The Warriors scored two more touchdowns in the first quarter and Doroshenko's 54-yard touchdown pass to Jason Dean on the first play of the second made the score 34-0. Bishop Grimes would get no closer than 22 points the rest of the day.
Doroshenko threw five touchdown passes, two to Highers, two to Dean and one to Dylan Prentice. Zaleski added 51- and 42-yard touchdown runs, Highers had two touchdown runs, including a 50-yarder, and Murry scored the final touchdown for Morrisville-Eaton in the fourth quarter.
Dean's first touchdown was set up when Evan Stewart intercepted a pass and returned it to the Bishop Grimes 2. Doroshenko had a touchdown nullified by a holding penalty on the next play, and a false start pushed the Warriors further back before a 17-yard scoring pass.
Morrisville-Eaton took possession at its own 40 to start its next drive and scored three plays later on runs of 24, 29 and five by Highers.
Bishop Grimes added to its first quarter frustration when a block in the back negated a 62-yard touchdown run by Dario Nicotera prior to the Stewart interception.
Nicotera was later on the receiving ends of two touchdowns passes from Avery Pankow before halftime, one for 17 yards and the other a 77-yard dash with a screen to the home sideline.
Jason Royal added 63- and six-yard touchdown runs in the third quarter for the Cobras. Pankow also threw a touchdown pass to Daniel Shaw. Royal's first touchdown pulled Bishop Grimes within 22 points at 42-20 and his second made the scored 56-34 in the final minute of the third quarter.
Morrisville-Eaton has won its last three games, all on the road, by at least 30 points, and has outscored its four opponents 210-76, topping 50 points in back-to-back games.
Morrisville-Eaton, the defending Section III champion, plays at home Friday against Thousand Islands which was beaten by Weedsport Friday in its first of three consecutive road games. Bishop Grimes will play its home finale Friday under temporary lights against Elmira's Thomas A. Edison High School from Section IV.
This article originally appeared on Times Telegram: Morrisville-Eaton beats Bishop Grimes in battle of football unbeatens
