Dylan Morris helps lead Graham-Kapowsin to come-from-behind win over Curtis

Riding on the arm of freshman rising star Dylan Morris, Graham-Kapowsin pulled off a big, come-from-behind 35-23 victory at Curtis on Friday night in 4A SPSL South play.

“I was just excited — with all our young kids we had — that we came back,” Graham-Kapowsin head coach Eric Kurle said. “Ninth-grade quarterback, ninth-grade guard, young kids on defense, our kids battled. Curtis took it to us early and they did some good things, we made some mistakes. We stuck with it, battled back and made plays. I’m excited for our team to show that. That’s what I’m proud of.”

Morris, whose rare high school arm strength was well on display, went 15 of 28 for 288 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions.

“He’s got great poise and is a great kid,” Kurle said of his young star. “Kids love him and they’re going to play for him because he’s going to play with emotion. He’s going to play hard. He’s going to sling it down there and make plays. He made a couple of mistakes early, and he battled back in the second half.”

A big key for Morris’ success and time in the pocket came from the underappreciated big guys up front, who allowed the Eagles’ wide receivers time to find space in the secondary, leading to 11 completions of more than 10 yards.

“They got better throughout the game,” Kurle said. “They’re young. ... Our kids battled, battled and battled, and then started winning some battles. We talk about there is no I in team, but you have to win your individual battles and then the team wins. I thought we did the better of that in the second half.”

Morris had his choice of targets to go to, but targeted Dalton Mershon the most. The 6-foot-2 senior finished with a game-high seven catches for 121 yards for the Eagles (4-0).

For Curtis, it was a different story.

The Vikings (3-1) went up 14-0 early in first quarter, but proceeded to be outscored 35-9 the rest of the way.

Curtis quarterback Gage Ferguson started off the first half hot, going 3 of 5 passing for 160 yards with another 71 yards on the ground. In the second half, he was limited to 3 of 13 passes for 77 yards and 9 yards on the ground.

The senior also had three fumbles and one interception.

This story was originally published September 25, 2015 at 11:10 PM with the headline "Dylan Morris helps lead Graham-Kapowsin to come-from-behind win over Curtis."