Amerson Sparkles for Morse

SAN DIEGO — He waited a year for the opportunity, and after Friday night’s festivities, Archie Amerson concluded it was worth every minute of it.

Amerson, a senior defensive back and wide receiver for second-ranked Morse, was forced to sit out portions of last season’s City Eastern League showdown between Morse and Point Loma, a game the Pointers won en route to their 3-A San Diego Section football title.

This year, Amerson didn’t miss a minute of it. He was on the field almost every down as Morse won, 43-0, at Mesa College.

“I wanted to play real bad,” said Amerson. “I’ve been thinking about this since they beat us last year, when I bruised my back and couldn’t play the whole game.”

On Friday, he rushed 23 times for 157 yards, including touchdown runs of 1 and 14 yards. Amerson, who has scored 15 touchdowns in the past five games, also returned a punt 39 yards in the first quarter to set up teammate Conan Smith’s one-yard touchdown and made an interception with four seconds remaining.

“I usually don’t play so much defense, but I didn’t seem to get tired tonight,” he said.

Smith, who scored on touchdown runs of 2 and 14 yards, rushed 16 times for 94 yards and gained a heap of praise.

“I just tried to run hard, but it helped with Conan up there leading the way,” said Amerson, who was quick to give equal time to the offensive line. “As the season’s gone on, they’ve been knocking people off the line.”

Granted, Point Loma (5-5, 2-1) has struggled this season. But Morse Coach John Shacklett was still surprised at the one-sided affair.

“We were looking for a good team to play and this was a good effort for us,” he said. “But you never expect something like this from Point Loma.”

Point Loma was held to 125 yards offense compared to 360 for the Tigers (10-0, 3-0).