With a stern look on his face, Gartman said after Friday night’s 35-6 win over Hoover Academy that his team’s defense needs to work on its tackling.

The Senators (4-1), however, had few other defensive problems as they registered six sacks, three interceptions and a fumble recovery for a touchdown in their Homecoming victory.

It was Morgan’s fourth straight victory.

“We played well at times and sloppy at times,” Gartman said. “We didn’t play nearly as well as we’re capable. We’re not executing offensively and we’re not tackling defensively.”

While the Senators allowed Colts’ fullbacks Trey Faulkner and Albert Gray plenty of running room up the middle, Morgan also applied constant pressure on quarterback Greg Edwards. MA linebacker Clayton Cogle registered a pair of sacks, including a big one that put the Colts in a third-and-long situation and took the winds out of their sails.

Gartman also voiced his concern that the Senators did not run the ball as well as they could. While Morgan struggled with moving the ball at times, the Senators rushed for four touchdowns, including two by senior halfback Reid Buster.

“We could improve by 25 percent,” Gartman said of his team’s overall play. “We’re not that big or strong. We have to have more quickness on both sides of the ball.”

The one area that pleased Gartman was his ability to play nearly his entire roster. That luxury came to light early as the Senators quickly broke open the game.

MA took the opening kickoff and capped a long drive when Ben Callaway scored on a 3-yard run early in the opening quarter. Jeremy Smith added the extra point to give the Senators a 7-0 lead.

The Morgan defense quickly came up with its first turnover when Buster intercepted a pass deep in Colts’ territory. Halfback Josh McAteer brought the turnover to fruition on a 12-yard run with 58.5 seconds to go in the opening period. Smith again added the PAT.

Hooper’s offensive woes worsened on its next drive when defensive end Donnie Hogg sacked backup quarterback Derrick Young for a seven-yard loss back to the 1.

The sack put the Colts in another third-and-long situation, but they instead elected to punt on third down.

The quick kick was downed at the Hooper 38, where the Senators took little time adding to their lead. Two plays later, Buster broke free around the right end for a 38-yard scoring run to give Morgan a 21-0 lead with 7:28 before the half. Smith added the PAT.

Not only was Smith’s PAT kicking on against Hooper, his punting wasn’t too shabby, either.

After McAteer intercepted a pass at the Morgan 37, the Senators were unable to move the ball, falling back to their own 36. But Smith quickly turned the field position tables to Morgan’s favor with a booming punt that bounced at the Hooper 12 and was downed at the 1 for a 63-yard effort. Hooper managed its lone first down of the half on the drive, but was stopped at its own 17. The Colts managed just 16 yards total offense for the first half.

After the Morgan offense failed to move on the opening drive of the second half, the MA defense came through when Faulkner dropped the ball in the Colts’ end zone and Eric Pilcher fell on it for an easy touchdown. Smith added the PAT to make it 28-0 with 8:47 to go in the third.

Morgan upped its lead to 35-0 on a burst up the middle by Buster for an 11-yard scoring run with 8:02 left in the game. Smith added his fifth PAT of the night.

Hooper scored its only points of the game when Edwards connected with split end Dustin Arant on a 10-yard touchdown toss on the final play of the game. Gartman downplayed the score.

“I’d rather see the young kids play and give up a touchdown,” he said. “That doesn’t bother me that they scored. It doesn’t mean anything.”

The Senators travel to Mobile Christian next Friday.