The Morrisville Bulldogs finished last season with a 7-6 record and secured their third consecutive district championship under first-year head coach Corey Keen.
This year, the team wants to go further.
Keen and the Bulldogs aim to build off the success of last season and make a deeper run in the playoffs this November.
A tight knit group
Morrisville High School’s football team currently has 23 players. They play in the division designated for the smallest schools — Class 1A — in District One of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association.
The nature of this small roster has helped the team become more connected with one another, according to I’zire Caraway, the Bulldogs’ running back and an incoming senior.
“It’s pretty fun,” Caraway said. “We’re all close so we all hang out outside of school.”
With new players joining the team, Caraway explained that it is the role of the tenured members of the squad like himself to support them and make sure they are ready to go for the season ahead.
“Everyone that came back from last year, we’re going to help them out too,” Caraway said. “We’re just going to get better as a team.”
Caraway is part of the group of seniors on this year’s team, a portion of the squad that joined as freshmen when Keen started as an assistant football coach at the high school. Keen joined the team in 2022, working for two years under former head coach Mitch Cohen.
In addition to serving as head coach for the Bulldogs, Keen is a district special education teacher.
He said working in the building has allowed him to build team relationships further. Keen keeps an eye out for his players in school, and they know that he is around if they need him.
“If they need something or need me to help, I’m usually right there,” Keen said.
Challenges fielding a small team
For Keen, building these connections is essential for a football program like Morrisville’s.
Even at their current size, Keen said that the team cannot do the same things that bigger teams — like Pennsbury High School or Harry S. Truman High School — can do.
“There are definitely challenges,” Keen said. “You just have to figure out how to do things.”
The Bulldogs cannot run traditional 11 on 11 drills during practice — Keen will work with one half of the offensive and defensive formation, before switching to the other portion of the team. During hot summer practices, Keen has to make sure that everyone is getting adequate breaks.
With an already small roster, even losing a couple players could be detrimental to the squad. For Keen, forging bonds with the students on the team is just as much a necessity as running a two-minute drill.
“My biggest thing is gaining relationships, because I can’t lose kids,” Keen said. “I have to have that relationship with these guys to stick it out with me.”
The season ahead
The Bulldogs ended their Tuesday morning practice with conditioning, running sprints on the practice field behind the high school.
After Keen broke the huddle, the team drifted back to the bench, removing cleats and checking missed notifications on their phones.
Merik Johnson — a senior and the Bulldogs’ quarterback — spoke about expectations for this year’s season ahead of their Aug. 28 opener against Samuel Fels High School.
He wants the team to make it past the PIAA playoff round following the district championship, where they lost 19-0 to Belmont Charter High School in 2025.
Johnson said that the team does not want just another district championship — they are looking for more. After winning their district championship, the team enters the state-wide tournament bracket with a chance at a Pennsylvania championship.
“Of course we want to win another one,” Johnson said. “We just want to make a deep state playoff run.”
