Athlete of the Week: Morin, Scots on a roll

Morin has certainly held up his end of the bargain, as he has become the tip of the spear for the Scots’ offense. Last week in a 42-22 win over Jefferson, Morin led the Lake Division-leading Scots to their fifth-straight win with a season-high 218 yards and three touchdowns on 20 carries, earning him Daily Journal Athlete of the Week honors.

The win over the Grizzlies took on bigger meaning for the Scots this season. It was Jefferson’s 40-28 win over Carlmont last season that kept the Scots from the Lake Division title and extended their playoff drought to 24 years.

“Coming into the season, after what happened last year, [Friday’s game] was a little more personal,” Morin said.

After Simon Tara gave Carlmont a 7-0 lead, Morin broke off a 68-yard scoring run to give the Scots control. He added a 5-yard scoring run late in the second and Wes Brown recovered a fumble in the end zone to put the Scots up 28-7 at halftime.

Morin completed the touchdown hat trick on a 4-yard run with under five minutes to play. Jonaven Kuhn punctuated the win with a 63-yard burst.

After a slow start to the season, one that saw Carlmont (3-0 PAL Lake, 5-2 overall) open with a pair of “A” division teams Sacred Heart Prep and Terra Nova (a combined 13-1), along with two “B” level squads, Morin and the Scots offense have really hit their stride.

Morin was held under 100 yards rushing his first three game but, in three of his last four, he has rushed for 178, 157 and last week’s 218, giving him 806 yards rushing and nine touchdowns on the season.

“The offseason was huge,” said Carlmont head coach Jake Messina, adding Morin had added about 15 pounds through hard, diligent work in the weight room.

“He’s powering through tacklers.”

While Morin has gotten stronger, he certainly has not lost a step, which makes his a dual-threat running back — he has the power and determination to take the pounding of running between tackles, but give him a seam and Morin is capable of breaking off long touchdown runs.

“He’s a combo where he’s big and physical, but still can be that scat back type,” Messina said.

Morin proved last year as a junior that he could be a lead back in the Scots offense, busting out a 221-yard performance in the 2017 season opener.

This year, the rest of the team came along to take that next step and Morin has benefited from it. Kuhn, a junior, has helped ease the load with a breakout year in his first year of being a significant contributor on offense. Kuhn is second on the team in rushing, with 648 yards and five rushing touchdowns ( 10 scores overall).

“Coming into this season, I knew Jonaven would step up,” Morin said.

And Morin credits Kuhn with making him a better player in more ways than one.

“Not just during games, but it’s someone else who plays that (running back) position and is going to give me competition,” Morin said.

Now that Morin and Kuhn are in a groove, it has enabled the rest of the offense to expand the playbook. Sophomore quarterback Siupeli Netane is getting more and more comfortable and his ability to start connecting on passes has loosened up defenses even more.

“We’ve been trying to press the issue and throw it a little more,” Messina said. “We’ve been seeing eight, nine boxes. [Netane] is starting to be able to put balls in windows (for receivers to make plays on).

“In this system, you want to spread the ball around,” Messina said.

Said Morin: “Every week … it’s been a huge improvement. … It’s definitely showing on the field now.”