Glatz’s big night helps Morton bounce Highland in first round of IHSA Class 5A playoffs
A four-game winning streak sent the Highland football team into the IHSA Class 5A playoffs on a roll.
On Friday night, Morton running back Seth Glatz and the Potters sent the Bulldogs back home empty-handed.
Glatz scored two of his seven touchdowns on the ground in the second quarter and the seventh-seeded Potters added four second half scores en route to a 56-33 victory in the first round of the IHSA Class 5A playoffs at Morton High School.
It was a bitter end to a great second half of the season for 10th seeded Highland, which finished the 2021 campaign at 5-5.
“It felt like weeks one through three where we got behind early. I had a lot of reflections from last night and you’ve got to be able to stop the run and you can’t drop as many balls as we dropped last night,” Highland coach Jimmy Warnecke said.
Morton scored first thanks to Lane Kaufman’s 6-yard touchdown run. Highland answered on its ensuing series as Brent Wuebbles rumbled 72-yards for a touchdown to tie the score at 7-7 with 6:53 left in the first quarter.
“Brent, our junior quarterback, ran the ball well and did everything we expect him to do as our captain and our leader, “Warnecke said.
Morton (8-2) retook the lead the next series on Glatz’s 16-yard touchdown run to make it 14-7 with 5:07 remaining in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the Potters running game led by Glatz began wearing down the Bulldogs defensive front. Glatz scored on a 7-yard run and a 2-yard run, pushing the Potters lead to 28-7 at halftime.
“In the second quarter it (the game) really got away from us,” Warnecke said.
Glatz added his fourth touchdown of the game on an 85-yard run, pushing the lead to 35-7 on the Potters opening drive of the third quarter.
Overall, Morton’s big play run game which produced four touchdown runs of 55 yards or more proved decisive.
“The big play got us ... it was just disappointing,” Warnecke said.
Glatz added his final three touchdowns on runs of 64, 55, and 65 yards to close out his big night.
Porter’s big night, final Highland score
HHS junior running back Travis Porter — like Wuebbles,— also played well despite the loss, notching rushing touchdowns of three, two and one yard in the second half.
“Travis Porter did a god job and we averaged like 6.4 yards a carry last night. We ran the hell out of the ball, but we just couldn’t get them (their offense) off the field,” Warnecke said.
The Bulldogs got one final score with 19 second left as Wuebbles hit Gabe Marti with a 29-yard touchdown toss.
“We have pretty high expectations for our program in the postseason and we expect to win postseason games, so it was disappointing and they were better against the run than we were and more balanced offensively,” Warnecke said.
This story was originally published October 30, 2021 at 6:24 PM.