IHSA Class 5A playoffs: Keegan Farnaus leads Joliet Catholic to 49-7 win over Morris

MORRIS — It didn’t take long for Keegan Farnaus to make his mark on Saturday afternoon’s Class 5A quarterfinal game.

Farnaus, a junior running back/wide receiver, caught a 76-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Andres Munoz on Joliet Catholic Academy’s first offensive play, and that put the Hilltoppers well on their way to a 49-7 win over previously unbeaten Morris.

JCA will play Providence in the state semifinals next weekend.

The JCA defense forced a Morris punt on the game’s opening possession, and the Hilltoppers took over at their own 24. On first down, Munoz faked a handoff and looked down the field. Farnaus had gotten behind the Morris defense and Munoz lofted the ball in his direction. Farnaus caught it in stride and cruised untouched into the end zone.

“We knew we wanted to take a shot early,” Farnaus said. “Andy threw a great ball and I was able to run under it.”

Farnaus was able to run free for most of the game. He finished with 225 rushing yards and three TDs on the ground to go with his 76-yard TD catch, giving him 301 yards and four touchdowns on the day.

“The offensive line did a great job of opening up holes,” Farnaus said. “Every week, we have been getting better and better. We were pretty jacked up for this game, and we did what we came here to do.”

The next time Farnaus touched the ball, he went 25 yards for another touchdown to give the Hilltoppers (9-3) a 14-0 lead with 7:15 still to play in the first quarter.

Morris (11-1) put together its best drive of the game after JCA downed a punt at the 1 late in the first quarter. The Morris drive went into the second quarter, and Morris reached the JCA 20 on a 20-yard pass from Carter Button to AJ Zweeres. The drive stalled there, though, as Button was sacked by Max Hrvatin. The Morris defense forced another punt and took over at its own 40. They drove to the JCA 44, but a fumble was recovered by the Hilltoppers’ Zach Pomatto. Two plays later, Farnaus broke free on a 53-yard touchdown run to make it 21-0 with 1:25 to play until halftime.

JCA wasn’t done, though.

The Hilltopper defense forced another punt, and Zak Beitler fielded it at midfield. He started to his right, bounced off a tackle attempt and reversed his field, taking it along the left sideline to the Morris 1-yard line. On the next play, Larry Stringham scored and JCA owned a 28-0 lead, which they took into halftime.

“Going from 14-0 late in the first half to 28-0 at halftime was a big for us to keep the momentum,” JCA coach Jake Jaworski said. “Our defense stopped them to start the game, and then we hit the big play, and that set the tone for us.

“It was nice to see Keegan have a game like this. What a performance. He has been a big part of our offense, but to see him break out like this in a big game is awesome. The O-line blocked their tails off today. We preach that to our guys and they are prepared for a big moment like this.”

Morris recovered a JCA fumble on the opening drive of the second half, and drove to the Hilltoppers’ 5-yard line. There, on fourth-and-2, JCA stopped Morris for a 1-yard gain and kept them out of the end zone. Morris forced a JCA punt, and, after a personal foul penalty on the return, started at the Hilltoppers’ 12. Griffin Zweeres got Morris into the end zone on a 2-yard run to make it 28-7 in the final minute of the third.

Morris attempted a squib kick, but JCA recovered at its own 30. On the fifth play of the drive, Nate Magrini (5 carries, 75 yards, 2 TDs) scored on a 40-yard run for a 35-7 lead. After another Morris punt, Farnaus broke loose for a 51-yard TD run for a 42-7 lead. After the Hilltoppers stopped Morris deep in JCA territory again, Farnaus broke off a 76-yard run and was tackled at the 11, and Magrini scored from there to cap the scoring.

Morris’ Carter Button completed 25-of-45 passes for 307 yards, with AJ Zweeres catching nine passes for 137 yards.

“JCA is a good team and they played very well,” Morris coach Alan Thorson said. “I am proud of our kids. They had a great year. Conference champions and a quarterfinal appearance. You hate to end the season like this, but these kids never lost their fight. The execution wasn’t there as much today, but their effort was, and I couldn’t be prouder of this group as a whole.”