Montour steals spotlight with win
For the better part of three quarters at Montour High School, it was all about New Castle quarterback Marcus Hooker.
But when it mattered most, Montour quarterback Kavon Morman stole the spotlight from the coveted Ohio State commit and led the Spartans to a thrilling come-frombehind victory.
Montour (8-2, 6-2) stormed back from a 21-point deficit late in the third quarter, scoring three touchdowns in a little more than three minutes to tie the game. After the Hurricanes (7-4, 6-2) responded with a field goal, Morman hit Brandon Lipford for a 57-yard scoring strike that gave the Spartans a 35-31 win in the WPIAL Class 4A quarterfinal matchup.
“We never quit,” Morman said. “We got popped in the mouth, but we came back. I’m proud of my teammates.”
It was all Hooker early on. With the score tied at seven, he turned a near-disaster into a game-changing play.
The running back-turnedquarterback fumbled the first snap of New Castle’s second possession, only to pick it up and sprint 78 yards for a touchdown. He was back at it on the next drive, making a nifty 180-degree spin on a itch to Freddy Soto, who scampered in for a 7-yard touchdown to give the Hurricanes a 21-7 lead at the break.
Hooker then picked up right where he left off in the first half, using a lethal cutback to break open a 25-yard run around the left end. Another nifty run by Hooker brought New Castle inside the Spartans’ 1-yard-line, and he took it into the end zone on the next play for his third touchdown of the game to make it 28-7.
Trailing by three touchdowns late in the third, the game appeared to be slipping out of Montour’s reach. That’s when Morman took matters into his own hands. The shifty quarterback led a six-play, 70-yard drive in a little more than a minute, capped off by an 11-yard touchdown run.
Spartans head coach Lou Cerro then gambled on an onside kick. Kicker Nolan Hutter executed it to perfection and Montour recovered it at the Hurricanes’ 41-yard line.
“I thought we had nothing to lose,” Cerro said. “We saw that on film they had a nice little gap there, and we have a great kicker who’s been kicking for us for three years.”
Morman then led another scoring drive, this time scrambling into the end zone from nine yards out to make it a 28-21 game at the end of the third quarter.
After the Spartans’ defense forced a three-and-out, Lipford returned a punt 48 yards all the way to New Castle’s 26-yard line. He then finished what he started with a 10-yard touchdown run, bringing Montour all the way back and tying the game at 28.
Hooker then single-handedly led the Hurricanes down inside the 5-yard line with a series of chain-moving runs. But a costly holding call on third-and-goal forced New Castle to settle for a 27-yard field goal by Brayden Cartwright.
That left too much time for Morman and Lipford, who hooked up for the 57-yard touchdown to cap off the incredible comeback.
“Kavon is my man,” Lipford said. “I would never want any other quarterback but him.”
The Spartans will move on to face South Fayette in the WPIAL Class 4A semifinals in a rematch of South Fayette’s 49-21 win in the regularseason finale.
“We definitely want to get revenge,” Morman said. “They beat us last week, but I feel like we definitely have a good gameplan coming up against them. I think we’ll get the job done.”