The No. 8 Morgan Academy Senators (5-1) extended its win streak to five games on Friday night with a 63-7 road victory against the Success Unlimited Mustangs.

At 5-1, Morgan Academy is off to its best start since its 2005 12-1 championship season. The 2005 teams’ only loss that season was its season opener against Edgewood Academy.

Now, 13 years later, the Senators are rolling on a win streak after dropping its season opener.

Morgan Academy had seven players with rushing attempts and six of them rushed for more than 10 yards.

“Last year’s seniors, and even the seniors before that, set us on this path,” Morgan head coach Josh Thacker said. “So, this has been three years in the making for us and we’re super proud of these guys and the work they put in. We knew this bunch was special just like last year’s bunch.”

Running back Holt Utsey led the charge with 107-yards and four touchdowns on six rushing attempts. He had big gains of 45, 30 and 26 that all went for touchdowns.

Josh Brown had the longest run of the night for the Senators with a 78-yard touchdown on his second carry of the night.

Morgan Academy quarterback Jeremy Lee accounted for two of the Senators seven rushing touchdowns, including a 48-yard run for a score. He also threw a 27-yard touchdown pass to Ed Williams on a night where he completed 6-of-9 passes for 112 yards.

“We knew Success was going to present different problems for us with the athletes they had, but we were able to stretch them a little bit with some vertical passing and some quick game passing that opened up the middle. The defense kept us in good field position, and that’s what allowed the run game to work,”

The Senators defense had another strong game as they limited the Mustangs to 255 total yards and one touchdown.

Success Unlimited’s sole touchdown came on a 25-yard run in the first quarter, but the offense was blanked for the rest of the game.

Morgan Academy’s Mason Perkins and Williams both got interceptions in the game, and Perkins returned his for a touchdown.

“I believe we have the best secondary in the state, so our defense on the back end allows our front end, our defensive line and linebackers, to kind of play free. They did a great job containing those guys and stopping the run.”

It was a non-region game for the Senators, but the team was able to keep their focus and not look past the Mustangs. After coming off a hard-fought game against Glenwood School, Thacker preached to his team all week about keeping the same energy against the Mustangs.

“We were scared of some complacency and some let downs in certain places, and it didn’t happen tonight,” Thacker said. “That’s what we’re super proud of.”

The 2017 Senators set the bar with a 6-6 year and a playoff win. This year’s team is measuring up to the bar and looking to surpass it.

“They are playing up to their expectations,” Thacker said. “These guys expect to win. They know they have a special group, so they live up to their expectations each week.”

The Senators return home to face Springwood on Friday, Sept. 28 for another non-region game.

Road game roundup

Ellwood

The Ellwood Christian Eagles were shutout 52-0 by the Francis Marion Rams on Friday night

“We just didn’t play a really good game at all. It was probably one of the worst games we had all season,” Ellwood head coach Migeual Catlin said.

Meadowview

The Meadowview Christian Trojans lost 55-0 to Evangel Christian-Montgomery on Friday night.