The Selma Times-Journal

All it took was one half of football for the Morgan Senators to put the Cottage Hill Christian Warriors away. Senior tailback Josh McAteer led the Morgan charge with another 100-plus yard rushing performance.

He also had three touchdowns to push the No. 4 ranked Senators to a 34-0 victory.

Ben Callaway put the first points of the game on the board with an 11-yard scamper into the end zone for the touchdown.

Quarterback Jeremy Smith slipped on his kicking shoe and sent the point after sailing through the uprights, giving Morgan an irrefutable lead, 7-0.

The Warriors attempted a version of an offense, but had a pass intercepted by Henley Hughes and returned to the CHCA 12-yard line.

McAteer carried it into the end zone on first and 10 for the touchdown. Smith added another point after, pushing the lead to 14-0.

McAteer and the Morgan offense continued to keep the Warrior defense on their heels, capping a drive with a 2-yard blast into the end zone. With the point after splitting the uprights, the score pushed to 21-0.

With under 1:00 left before the intermission, McAteer took the handoff from Smith 20 yards through the Warrior defense and into the end zone for the touchdown.

Smith added the point after and the Senators carried a 28-0 halftime lead into the locker room.

The Senators controlled the clock in the third quarter, not scoring a point.

In the fourth however, Rhett Rhyne finished a drive with a 2-yard surge through the defense and into the end zone.

The point after was no good, due to a bad snap, but at that point, the Warriors were out of the game, trailing 34-0.

While McAteer finished the night with 105 yards on 14 carries with three touchdowns, it was the Senator-defense that highlighted the game.

The Senators held the Warriors to minus 29 yards rushing, allowing the home team only 96 yards of total offense.

Converse to that, the Morgan offense ground through the Warrior defense to the tune of 223 rushing yards and only 27 passing for 250 yards of total offense.

Defensively, Will Summerlin had seven tackles.

Henley Hughes finished with six tackles and one interception. Blake South finished the night with five tackles &045; two for loss and two sacks.

The Senators, who are currently 2-0 in the region, still have the bulk of their regional schedule left to play.

They will be on the road next Friday when they travel to Hope Hull, to play the Colts of Hooper Academy.