Hutton: Dieter, Perkins the difference between Morton, Washington

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South Bendf washington's Gehrig Dieter (left)catches a pass for a touchdown over Morton'sAlfred Dickey during the Class 4A football regional held at Morton High School in Hammond on Friday November 11th, 2011. | Charles Mitchell~For Sun-Times Media

Updated: December 13, 2011 9:08AM

HAMMOND — Alfred Dickey was not afraid. He was not tight. He was not intimidated.

He just got beat — a few times, which was too be expected.

“We were trash talking all night,” he said of his matchup against Gehrig Dieter, the career leader for receiving yards in the state of Indiana.

Dieter is dead ringer for another great wide receiver that played in this area: Jeff Samardzjia. He’s 6-3. Physical. Stronger than he looks. Knows how to use his body for position.

The road to semistate ran right through Dieter’s rangy frame and sticky hands and Dickey and Morton knew it and they just couldn’t stop him.

Greatness can be defined in snap shots. Two of them for Morton in this case will be implanted in their collective memory.

The 51-yard touchdown pass Dieter caught on a fly pattern down the sidelines on the first play of the second half and the 35-yard pass reception from Daigien Morgan on the next to the last play of the second half.

That play, with Dieter stopping and planting in front of the Governors’ defender, and then jumping high for the ball, was a backbreaker. Dieter, the state record holder for pass receiving, wasn’t unstoppable. There was plenty of high throws and in your face coverage from the Governors. They never backed down. They made plenty of great stops.

Just not the ones they needed when they needed them. They just couldn’t find that clutch turnover or get that one break they needed.

It was a third-and-24. Morton looked like it would get into the locker room down six, with a chance to regroup and figure it out.

Dieter, who favors the left side of the field, out-jumped Dickey for the score in the corner of the end zone.

It changed the game. Morton heads into halftime trailing 20-7 instead of 13-7.

“I like to be in those situations,” Dieter, who has a slew of Division I offers, said.

Said Dickey: “After he caught his third pass, I figured I’d better shut-up and start playing.”

For Morton, the catches by Dieter were inevitable, just like the changing of seasons. He finished with five for 125 yards. The premise for a victory for the Governors went something like this: Dieter and David Perkins, a recent decommit from Notre Dame, were going to somehow not hurt them too much. That the Governors were going to find a way to nullify their big play ability.

Morton did a nice job of holding down both of those guys for about 90 percent of their plays from scrimmage. It was the other 10 percent that killed them.

Washington quarterback Daigien Morgan was 8-for-20 for 138 yards passing.

And Perkins, a 6-3 210 pound two way player who has SEC schools offering him scholarships, had just five of 15 carries go for more than 5 yards.

But his fourth-quarter 52-yard run down the sidelines with 6:02 left, a eye-popping combination of speed and power, was just too much for the Governors to handle.

Morton has exceptional players but they don’t have two guys with the skill and physical abilities of Perkins and Dieter.

That was the difference. Morton had lots of excellent players. Washington had Dieter and Perkins.

Doesn’t seem fair.

Sometimes, you have to find a way, as improbable as it seems to get, it done.

The Governors tried. Dickey was a swarming menace in the second half, blitzing on nearly every play. Once, he even jumped over the center after anticipating the snap count and sacked Morgan for a 6-yard loss.

Morton appeared dead after Washington went ahead 33-14 after Dieter intercepted a pass and took it down the 1, setting up an easy score for Alex Brooks.

But they scored again and had a chance to get one more with 4:00 left when they recovered an onside kick. Chris McCormack’s pass was intercepted and it was the ball game.

Dickey was laughing and smiling afterward because that’s how he rolls no matter what the outcome is. He went one-on-one with Dieter for most of the night and he did better than hold his own.

It just wasn’t enough, though. Sometimes, that’s how it goes.