Posted on Oct 13, 2014
by Gabriel Pruett
Adam Morse was at the 1999 state championship game to watch one of his idols, Dustin Long, play against Stephenville but he has a great reason to not remember a single thing.
The now starting quarterback of the Indians was barely out of diapers when Stephenville, which was then guided by current Baylor coach Art Briles, defeated the Indians 28-18 in the Astrodome. Morse was 2 years old that day, but that does not mean he is a stranger to events leading up to the PN-G championship game.
“I have no memory of that game,” Morse said. “I have watched it on YouTube and also the game before it against Schertz Clemens. They (PN-G) had a last-minute drive to win that game. I have watched that many times. Every time I watch it I get emotions.”
Adam and his father, Steve Morse, watch past highlight tapes on VHS quite often. It is something Morse does to get ready for games and to see how some of the Indian greats went to work.
“Watching those games gets me pumped up,” Morse said.
The motivation has worked well for the junior signal caller. Now, Indians fans hope Morse is ready for the biggest of games that will culminate another wild week of Mid-County Madness. The son of Amber and Steve Morse will lead PN-G against Nederland Friday, with the inaugural presentation of the Bum Phillips Bowl Trophy going to the game’s winner. The trophy will be handed over to the winning team about 10 minutes after the game by Bum Phillips’ son, Wade Phillips, who just happens to be a former PN-G quarterback.
This game is exactly why Morse has dreamed of playing QB in a purple and white uniform.
“It’s a big game, the biggest rivalry in the state of Texas,” Morse said. “I think we need to come out like we have each week and plan and work on that game plan. We can then continue to roll with it. A kid’s dream growing up is playing quarterback. It is the best feeling in the world.”
Morse is doing more than filling a roster spot for PN-G coach Brandon Faircloth. He is having one of the best seasons any quarterback has ever had in the Indians’ storied history.
In his first PN-G start six weeks ago against Clear Lake, Morse threw for a school-record 383 yards. Already this season, he’s thrown for 1,743 yards, seventh best in the PN-G record books. He is only 177 yards short of No. 6 Brennan Doty, who threw for 1,920 yards in 2009.
First place is held by Long who set the PN-G record in 1999 with 3,087 yards before signing with Texas A&M. Morse is 1,344 short of that record.
If the Indians go only one round deep in the playoffs, he needs to average 268.8 yards per game to surpass Long. If PN-G wins in the first round and reaches the area round, Morse then only needs to average 224 yards to become the season leader for passing yards in PN-G history.
Obviously, he’s hoping the Indians go much deeper.
Morse’s 20 touchdown passes are fourth best in a season and only two back of Long’s third-place mark of 22. Long is also second at 28 and Doty is first in PN-G history with 29 touchdowns thrown in 2010.
Morse is also seventh on the list of most completions in a season with 119. He is three behind Long for sixth and 121 behind Doty’s 240 for first with four regular season games to go.
“I think it’s a great honor to put my name with those guys,” Morse said. “Those are a couple of the best quarterbacks that have ever come through here. They set high standards and I am trying to meet them.”
Morse was named the starting quarterback for PN-G right at the beginning of the season by Faircloth. To some, it was a very bold move considering the fact last year’s starter Ky Walker was coming off a 2,000-yard season as a junior.
“Adam has been great this year,” Faircloth said. “He has been a quarterback in our offense since second grade. It shows he has wanted to be the quarterback of the Indians his whole life. He was made for this.”
There have been several times after games that fans in the stands and scouts have said out loud how impressed they were with Morse’s throwing abilities.
“He is a great thrower,” Faircloth said. “That is kind of the first thing you need to be as a quarterback. He knows how to throw the ball. He does it on time. He doesn’t hold the ball. He gets it in the hands of the guys we want making the catch.
“First thing he cares about is winning, like me. When you do things like that, records come. We all understand that. That is not why he is our quarterback. He is our quarterback because he wants to win.”
Faircloth added the one win Morse wants the most this season is this Friday against Nederland. It would mean Morse helped the senior friends he has on the team leave the Indians program with at least one win against the Bulldogs.
Morse agreed that would make this season even more special.
“That is probably the biggest part of it,” Morse said. “They have beaten us the past four years and now it is time for us to step up and get a win.”
If Morse can find a way to get past the Bulldogs with a victory, he will join Long and Doty in another category. This one is PN-G quarterbacks with a win against the bitter rival Bulldogs.
Indian Inklings: Jeff Powers of Fox Sports Southwest was at PN-G’s rain-delayed practice Monday to talk with head coach Brandon Faircloth and quarterback Adam Morse. Powers plans to be at Nederland on Tuesday. It’s all part of a package he’s putting together for FSS’ Football Friday. He’ll also be at the game Friday night to file reports … The Indians have scored 276 points this year, which is 216 behind the 1999 edition of the Indians, who rolled to the school record of 492 points. Those Indians did it in 16 games … PN-G has scored over 50 points three times this year. The last Indians team to do so was back in 1971 and that year PN-G scored at least half a hundred four times. The 1971 team also scored over 60 twice, including 67 against Pasadena Rayburn and 62 versus Vidor … The most points PN-G has ever scored in a Mid County Madness game was a 54-0 win over Nederland in 1992. That prompted Nederland to make a coaching change and hire Larry Neumann.
Source: http://www.panews.com/sports/morse-enters-madness-on-pace-to-break-records/article_64ae41d4-534d-11e4-920e-df3a80a4cae9.html
