Over the past ten years Morgan Park has been at or near the top of high school football in the Chicago area, and they’re on the march again this year as they enter the city and state playoff race.
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Over the past ten years Morgan Park has been at or near the top of high school football in the Chicago area, and they’re on the march again this year as they enter the city and state playoff race.
Since the year 2000 the Mustangs have won three city championships, and have been runners-up twice. Even more impressively they have made 11 consecutive state playoff appearances.
If the beginning of this year’s playoffs are any indication of things to come, 2010 might be the year of the Mustangs. They defeated Clark 42-0 in the first round of the city playoffs, then went on to defeat Fenton 40-0 in the first round of the state playoffs this past weekend.
The early post-season success they’ve enjoyed isn’t all that surprising considering the way they tore through the regular season. The Mustangs (9-1) scored over 60 or more points twice, and were also regularly holding their opponents scoreless – at one point recording three straight shutouts.
Morgan Park’s schedule wasn’t a cakewalk either, as they faced and defeated Geneva, Hubbard, and most notably Providence, a Catholic League powerhouse, that they beat in the first game of the season at Soldier Field.
The importance of beating Providence can’t be overstated and it set the tone for the rest of the season.
“The Providence game was the highlight of the year because everybody expected us to lose. But the offense played perfectly, and the defense played with good chemistry. We just came out and played ball,” said senior defensive back Christopher Dalton.
Quarterback Dae’Shaun Hurley also said the Providence game held a lot of meaning for the team.
“We were hungry, coming into that game. We felt we had a lot to prove because last year we didn’t end the season the way we wanted to,” he said.
Morgan Park’s one loss this year was a 48-16 drubbing by top-ranked Simeon in their third game.
Hurley is just a junior, but like any good quarterback he is the unquestioned leader of the offense. Morgan Park head coach Lexie Spurlock has a lot of confidence in his QB, but he knows that the athletic youngster still has some room for growth.
“Hurley’s a leader,” said Spurlock. “The very position of quarterback calls for leadership. When you step in those shoes you have to be able to put on the leadership badge.”
“But there are some areas of concern,” he adds. “He’s only 16-years-old and he’s a real good kid, but remember, he is a kid and kids make mistakes – he’s not an adult.”
Although the players are not adults, Spurlock said they do face a lot of challenges on and off the field. And the kind of challenges they encounter on the south side of Chicago can’t be ignored as they do factor into the whole equation as they attend school, play football, and grow up.
“There are outside factors that people don’t realize city kids go through. The threats of going home too late or too early are real. If you release them from practice too early it can become dangerous, if you release them too late it can become dangerous,” he said.
“The kids have to contend with all of those factors that people don’t even have to think about in some of those other areas of the city,” Spurlock said.
The hurdles the team has to face on and off the field are motivation to succeed, however, and if they win a state title it will be something the whole community can savor.
“We hope that winning a championship will add to a more positive attitude in the community, the families, the school and the football program,” said Spurlock. “People will talk about state championships rather than what goes on on the street corner.”
Street corners shouldn’t be a problem much longer for senior Devonte Jackson. The 6-foot-3, 230 pound senior is developing into an excellent tight end and he plans to take his talent to college next season. But before that happens he says he’s got work to do here.
“To get a state title would mean so much. To be the first Chicago Public School team to do it would mean a lot. It would be great to head into college with a state championship under my belt,” Jackson said.
Next up for Morgan Park is the second round of the state playoffs where they’ll square off against Prairie Ridge, who is also 9-1 on the season.
Copyright 2010 Chicago Defender
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