Any time you’re playing against one of the top teams in the state, you need things to go your way and not make mistakes.

Friday night in Morris, La Salle-Peru had some miscues and missed opportunities and Morris, ranked No. 3 in 4A, took full advantage as it came away with the 48-0 Interstate 8 Conference victory.

On the opening possession Morris showed how strong its running game was as Caeden Curran busted free for 15 yards and then Logan Conroy gained 13 yards on a reverse.

But on third-and-6, the Cavaliers’ Jaron Morscheiser came up with a big sack that forced Morris to punt the ball.

However L-P fumbled the punt, giving the ball back to Morris on the L-P 16-yard line.

After a 2-yard loss on the initial play of the drive, Curran busted free up the middle for an 18-yard touchdown run to get the scoring started for a 7-0 Morris lead.

As good as the Morris offense was all night, the defense was even better as it limited Marion Persich and the Cavs to just 46 yards of offense on the night and a single first down.

The Cavs were forced to punt, but got the ball back quickly with an interception.

After the turnover, Persich scrambled to his left and against his body made a nice throw to Greyson Ernat for 32 yards.

But the Morris defense responded, and after a false start for L-P, the Cavs were forced to punt again.

Curran started the drive with back-to-back 15-yard runs. On a third-and-10, Brady Varner connected with Quaid Phillips for 7 yards to bring up forth-and-short.

Curran had a 4-yard gain to keep the drive alive. Then on third-and-6 Varner found Logan Sparrow for a 19-yard touchdown pass to put Morris ahead 14-0.

“I thought we really controlled both lines of scrimmage tonight, “ Morris coach Alan Thorson said. “We love to run, but we can certainly pass and their quarterback (Persich) is a great athlete, but we listened to a podcast this week and all we heard was about him and nothing about our defense and I think we showed tonight how good our defense is.”

[ Friday Night Drive Podcast, Episode 303 ]

L-P was flagged for a roughing the kicker on the extra point and Morris decided to try the onside kick to take advantage of the field and it worked as it recovered, putting the offense back on the field.

But the Cavs got the ball back immediately Morris fumbled.

The Cavs had a golden opportunity on second down for a big gain, but a pass was dropped and L-P eventually had to punt the ball.

“Against a team like this, you can’t make mistakes,” L-P coach JJ Raffelson said. “We had too many turnovers and then had a chance for a big play but dropped the pass and our defense was just on the field for way too many plays.”

After a big punt return, Morris started things off with a 5-yard Curran run followed by a 9-yard gain a few plays later before Varner found Logan Conroy in the back of the end zone for a 23-yard touchdown pass that put Morris ahead 21-0.

L-P started its next drive headed in the wrong direction with a pair of penalties that eventually forced the Cavs to punt again.

Varner started the Morris drive with a 10-yard pass to Anthony Smith and then it was back to Curran with runs of 9 and 6 before a 9-yard touchdown run untouched up the middle with 11 seconds left to put Morris ahead 28-0 at the break.

The first minute of the second half was the nail in the coffin for the Cavs as they lost a fumble on the first play of the half.

Morris once again turned to Curran, who ran for 14 yards and then finished off the drive with a 9-yard touchdown run.

On the next L-P possession, a Persich pass was tipped at the line and intercepted by Owen Olson for another short field for Morris.

Just seconds later, it was Curran again with a 9-yard touchdown run that put Morris ahead 42-0 to start the running clock.

The Cavs offense continued to be denied by the Morris defense and Morris added a fourth quarter touchdown from R.J. Kennedy.

Morris was led by Curran with 157 yards and four TDs rushing, while Varner added 63 yards and a pair of touchdowns passing.

L-P was led by Nick Hachenberger with 9 yards on three carries, while Persich was 4 of 8 for 42 yards passing.