Syracuse, N.Y. -- The Morrisville-Eaton football team gave its coach and several talented seniors the parting gift of a historic title Sunday.
The Mavericks combined an overpowering rushing attack with a timely defense to easily defeat Section IX's Eldred 40-12 Sunday in the state 8-man football regional championship at Cicero-North Syracuse.
The dominance delivered the Mavericks (11-2) their first-ever regional banner and put an apt bow on the career of head coach Don Johnson, who is retiring after 30 years of coaching, including 15 at M-E.
Wesley Dimperio and Landen Highers each rushed for a pair of touchdowns as the Mavericks jumped out to a 16-0 first-quarter lead and didn't need to break much of a sweat after that.
"Oh, it's pretty bittersweet, I guess," Johnson said of his emotions on his bus ride home. "I haven't let it sink in yet, of course. I've been saying for five years that I was going to be done and I hung around and it's really going to happen this time. (Lineman Gabe Geiger) said to me after the game was over, he said, 'Coach, this one was for you.'"
The final victory capped off an 11-game winning streak that had been building steam since M-E started off the season 0-2, with close losses to defending regional champion Frankfort-Schuyler and Elmira.
"Those were great games. We needed to see where we were going to stand this year because to be truthful, I never would have imagined we would have gone this far," Johnson said of the 0-2 start. "They started believing in themselves that we could do this."
M-E got revenge in the sectional final with a 40-36 win over F-S then toppled Taconic Hills 56-21 in the first round of state play.
Morrisville-Eaton came into the game ranked No. 1 in the state while Eldred was No. 2, but the gap between the teams was quickly apparent.
Dimperio sent his team off to the races with a 75-yard touchdown run just 51 seconds into Sunday's game, and Highers followed that up with a two-point run to make it 8-0.
The Mavericks doubled the lead about three minutes later on a 3-yard rush by Mason Marland and another 2-point conversion from Highers.
"I think the memo was just one last ride," Highers said of his team's quick start. "It's the last game ever for some of us, and we're doing it for each other and for the coaches."
The Yellowjackets answered with a 35-yard touchdown pass from Liam McGill to Trai Kaufmann to make it 16-6 after the first quarter.
The second quarter was scoreless, but only after the Mavericks defense came up big to keep it that way.
Eldred tried to get back in the game with a blocked punt that set the team up at the M-E 18 with 4:49 left before halftime. But an unsportsmanlike penalty pushed back the Yellowjackets, and Noah Mudge then picked off a pass to keep Eldred from finding the end zone.
"The kids all played well. They were a really good offensive team. We were pretty nervous about," said Mavericks defensive assistant coach Ethan Johnson, Don's son. "They've got some really good players and our goal is just to try to limit the big plays and keep everything in front of us. I think we let up a couple big ones, but other than that it kind of worked out how we drew it up, I guess."
Don Johnson said he stressed to his players at the break not to let Eldred's outbursts weigh them down mentally.
"Football is such a game of momentum that we were able to hang on to that momentum after the first score to lead to the second score," Johnson said. "And as soon as they scored, kids are kids and think it's the end of the world. At halftime, I say, we're up. We're in control. We come out of the gate to start the second half and score real quick, and we take their heart."
The Mavericks followed their coaches' instructions to perfection.
Dimperio padded his team's lead to 24-6 with a 6-yard scoring run with 7:42 remaining in the third. McGill countered with a 1-yard TD rush with 2:10 left to change the scoreboard to 24-12.
Eldred's Mason Tice then intercepted a Highers pass to put the Yellowjackets in business at their own 40 with 53 ticks left in the third. But the Mavericks' defense forced a punt, and Highers quickly put the contest in ice with a 13-yard scoring scamper just 46 seconds into the fourth.
Don Johnson said he hopes Ethan takes over for him as head coach next season, although Ethan said he's concerned his father would "chew his leg off" without some involvement in football. Ethan said if he does get the top spot, he'd expect his father to help out as a consultant.
"I think it'd be fun," Ethan said of replacing his father. "I think he's done so much for the program and building it together for the eight-man world. It'd be a challenge, but it'd be one that I think everybody'd be pretty excited about. It's stepping down, doesn't necessarily mean fully done. I'm sure even if I came back and took over the program, he'd show his face around a lot."