A rematch of last season’s AISA Class 3A state championship came closer to becoming a reality Friday night as the Morgan Academy Senators held on for a 14-7 win over the Fort Dale Eagles.

The Senators’ seventh consecutive victory locked up second place in the region and home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Morgan Academy travels to Meadowview Christian next Friday, before facing region-leading and state-runner-up Faith Academy in two weeks.

“This was our biggest win of the season so far,” Morgan Academy coach Robert Gartman said. “If we play four quarters like we did our first two against (Faith Academy), we can beat them.”

The final two quarters, however, left Gartman questioning his play calling.

With the Senators (7-1) already ahead 14-0, a blocked punt by Blake Smith early in the third period set up Morgan Academy at the Fort Dale 46-yard line.

From there, however, the Morgan Academy offense went into a skid.

After picking up one first down to the Eagles’ 33-yard line, the Senators moved to the 26, setting up a third-and-three play. Josh McAteer was then dropped for a 2-yard loss to the 28 to set up fourth down. Quarterback Jeremy Smith dropped back, looking for an open receiver. Instead he was sacked at the 40-yard line, giving possession to Fort Dale.

“We got too conservative on offense,” Gartman said. “I botched a couple of play calls. We should have run an option play on fourth down. If we had done that, we would have been ahead 21-0.”

On Fort Dale’s next drive, a pass interference call against the Senators moved to the Morgan Academy 48. The Eagles reached the Morgan 30, but an offensive pass interference call pushed the Eagles back to their own 46 and killed the drive.

The Morgan offense fared no better.

After a punt backed them up to their own 2-yard line, the Senators were stopped on three plays and forced to punt.

The teams exchanged fumble recoveries, with the Senators coming up with the turnover at their 34. But Fort Academy’s recovery of a Morgan fumble gave the Eagles the ball at the MA 29-yard line midway through the fourth period.

Five plays later, tailback Tim James scampered off the right guard for a 3-yard touchdown run. The extra point narrowed the margin to 14-7 with 3:04 to go in the game.

The Eagles’ subsequent onside kick was recovered by the Senators, who ran out the clock.

After the game, Gartman insisted that the Senators were not looking ahead to their game against Faith Academy.

“If we were looking past (Fort Dale),” he said, “we couldn’t have beaten them.”

Morgan Academy took a 7-0 lead when McAteer broke a pair of tackles and rumbled off the left guard for a 9-yard scoring run with 5:01 left in the opening quarter. Smith added the extra point.

It was, however, the Morgan Academy defense that stole the show in the first half. A smothering Senators’ stance limited the Eagles’ ability to run the football.

Fort Dale managed a first down when quarterback David Moore found Mason Bass on a sideline route to the Eagles’ 30-yard line. But Morgan Academy linebacker Will Summerlin answered that when he blitzed up the middle and halted James for a 2-yard loss on first down. Moore found a small hole up the middle for two yards, but his third-down pass fell incomplete, forcing the Eagles to punt.

On Fort Dale’s next drive, Summerlin again found his way into the Eagles’ backfield, sacking Moore for a 14-yard loss back to the Fort Dale 9 on third down. Summerlin finished with 10 tackles to lead the Senators.

Following a 23-yard punt that set up Morgan Academy at its 44, the Senators took advantage of the good field position. McAteer capped an eight-play, 56-yard drive when he found a hole off right tackle, eluded a defender and stumbled into the end zone for a 4-yard touchdown run. Smith’s extra point made it 14-0 with 4:24 left in the first half.

McAteer set up his own touchdown when he burst up the middle for a 25-yard gain to the Eagles’ 9 on third-and-three.

Morgan Academy travels Friday to face the Meadowview Christian Trojans.