Tonkawa-Morrison ball games are always close and hard-fought between two great tradition-rich, proud programs.The 2021 edition was no different.Tonkawa prevailed 27-16. But it wasn’t as easy as the score indicates.In fact, the Bucs faced a goalline stand right off the bat.Morrison took the opening kickoff and marched to a first and goal at the Tonkawa four. There, Noah Campbell, Kai Day, Jake Morgan, Dante Mendoza and Luke Shepherd stuffed the Wildcat running game.Tonkawa took over at its own one and was forced to punt out of the endzone. Morrison got the ball back at the Tonkawa 44 and took nine plays to score on a 15 yard pass play with just six seconds left in the first period. The PAT run failed.The Bucs took over the lead 7-6 with a drive of their own on the ensuing kickoff. Roman Chandler scored on a 29 yard run early in the second period, the fourth play of a 57 yard march. Big plays in the drive also included passes from quarterback Ryan Morgan to Kai Day for 12 yards and tight end Noah Campbell for 17 yards.Brendan Ochoa was perfect on three PAT kicks.Tonkawa never trailed after that.In fact, linebacker Luke Shepherd gave the Bucs their first big break when he picked off a Morrison pass at the wildcat 35. Four plays later, Chandler scored from seven yards out and Tonkawa was up 14-6.The Bucs forced the Wildcats to punt on their next possession but got pinned at their own five yard line. On third down, a Buc ball-carrier was tackled in the endzone for a safety.Ochoa boomed a 60 yard free kick punt from his own 20. Morrison was able to move from its own 45 to the Buc 18 before cornerback Jake Randall broke up a fourth and four pass play to end the half.The Tonkawa defense really battened down the hatches the second half. While Morrison had 27 rushes for 99 yards in the first half, they were held to a meager 12 rushes for 18 yards in the final two quarters.The Bucs took the opening third quarter kickoff and covered 60 yards in 13 plays with chandler scoring from a yard out on fourth down. The nifty running back had runs of 10, 15 and 13 yards in the drive. He finished the night with 133 yards on 27 carries.He would have been close to the 200 mark ...
