Pontiac football overcomes weather to edge rival Morris

Monday, August 27, 2007 11:16 PM CDT

By Pantagraph staff

MORRIS — Despite a 24-hour delay caused by torrential rains, the Pontiac High School football team had to contend with both perennial powerhouse Morris and still sloppy field conditions to record a 16-13 nonconference win Saturday.

Morris came out of the gate flying, returning the opening kickoff 87 yards for a touchdown and an early 7-0 lead.

Pontiac countered on the next series when fullback Alex Smith blasted in from two yards out. Quarterback Michael Panno’s two-yard conversion run gave the Indians an 8-7 lead after one quarter.

Morris regained the lead in the third quarter, scoring on a 5-yard touchdown pass, but failed on the conversion to go up 13-8.

Pontiac (1-0) took the lead for good when Panno hit Kendrique Coats with a 36-yard scoring strike. Panno then found Patrick Miller open for the two-point conversion and a 16-13 Indians lead.

Morris had a chance to tie the game with a 32-yard field goal attempt with 48 seconds remaining. But Pontiac was able to pressure the kicker and force a miss to the left to preserve the win.

Pontiac generated 194 yards in total offense with Panno leading the way both in the air and on the ground. The junior quarterback threw for 82 yards on 6-of-9 passing with one touchdown and no interceptions while adding 54 yards rushing.

The Indians held Morris (0-1) to 151 total yards with 150 of those coming on the ground.