By John Ring
Published September 9, 2021 in The Burg
It all came down to this.
After 46 minutes of play, 49 points, 240 yards and a cloud of dust by a running back and an
aerial show Patrick Mahomes would have loved, the Morton Potters came to the line of scrimmage facing a fourth a 4th down with 4 yards to go from the Galesburg 14 yard line and
2:13 left on the clock with a 28-21 lead.
If the Silver Streak defense held, Galesburg still had a chance. If Morton converted, the game
was over.
The Potters converted and also scored a touchdown when quarterback Lane Kaufman scored
on a keeper.
Their 34-21 win evened Morton’s record at 1-1 while the Streaks are 0-2 and new Coach Derek
Blackwell is still looking for that first varsity win.
The key to the game was Morton running back Seth Glatz, a 5’11” senior running back who
dominated the clock and moved the chains. Glatz carried the football 28 times and fought and
bulled his way to 240 yards on the night, scoring a pair of touchdowns. “This was an average
night for me,” said Glatz matter-of-factly after the game. “My career high is 380 yards.”
The game started with an exchange of punts, a missed field goal and a fumble. That’s when
Glatz and Silver Streak quarterback Tristan Legate took over the game.
Legate fired the first of his three touchdown passes with a minute left in the first period but
Morton stormed back to tie the game and then Snell broke a 28-yard run for a go-ahead score
with 2:35 left in the first half but the point after was missed. Legate then completed three straight passes, the last a 13 yard touchdown strike to Dre Egipciaco and Galesburg took the lead of John Rehn’s extra point to close the first half with a 14-13 lead.
The Potters took control of the game in the third quarter. Snell chewed up yardage and pounded
the Streak defense over and over and Morton opened up their biggest lead of the game at 27-
14. “Our line kept opening great holes and I tried to get in them,” said Snell.
But Legate (18 for 27, 278 yards) wasn’t nearly finished as he took the Streaks on another
touchdown drive, connecting with Michael Eiker for a touchdown pass to close the gap to 27-21.
“We were clicking on offense,” said wide receiver Alex Baughman. “Our passing game was crisp
and Tristan put on a show. We were running good routes and yeah, a hundred per cent, I felt I
could get open.”
“Their quarterback did a great job, for sure,” said Snell of Legate. “For a while there, we couldn’t
stop them.”
But Morton and Snell burned more of the clock and then Kaufman scored the final touchdown.
Despite that, Legate and the Streaks refused to knuckle under. Legate connected on a 50-yard
bomb that Egipciaco (8 catches for 178 yards) caught despite being interfered with and
Galesburg threatened again before turning the ball over on downs inside the Morton 15-yard
line.
“Their running back was something special, give him credit,” said Baughman, “but we’ll be back
next week and get better.”