100 and counting for Storm
Bureau Valley suited up for its first football season in 1995. Fifteen seasons and 151 games later, the Storm have won their 100th game.
The Storm hit the century mark in style with a 53-12 win over River Valley, a loss which was the Falcons’ 32nd straight.
“It is a nice milestone for the program and community. I did not know it till right before the game,” said second-year head coach Jeff Ohlson, who’s been in the program since 1997. “It is nice to be the head coach for the win, but the other great head coaches that came before me deserve a lot of the credit.
“I have had the opportunity to learn a lot of football over the last 12 or 13 years from all of these great coaches who built the foundation for the program and achieved most of these 100 wins.”
With 100 wins in 15 years, the Storm have an average of about 6.5 wins per season. The past five years have been the most productive in BV history, capped by a 39-2 run from 2004-06. In that stretch, the Storm went 13-1 as state runners-up in 2004,14-0 as state champions 2005 and 12-1 as semifinalists.
BV has had five other winning seasons, including last year’s 10-2 mark, and heading toward another under Ohlson. He is the fifth head coach in school history, including Ken Bourquin (1995-96, 8-10), John McKenzie (1997-99, 10-17), Jason Kirby (2000-2004, 41-15) and Dave Moore (2005-07, 29-7).
Along with the head coaches, Ohlson also credits longtime assistant coach Craig Johnson, who has been with the program since its inception. The Green, Iowa native nurtured the Storm program along as sophomore coach and now serves as varsity offensive coordinator.
Poll-watching: Bureau Valley moved atop this week’s Associated Press 2A poll, climbing from No. 2. The Storm received four first-place votes, one less than last week’s leader Maroa-Forysth, but had 10 more points, 101-91.
Other area ranked teams in 2A include Stark County, Morrison (10th) and Amboy/LaMoille (11th). Mendota remained No. 7 in 4A.
• Match maker: Quincy Notre Dame coach Bill Connell needed a week 3 opponent for 2009 season when Geneseo had to drop its nonconference game for a conference game with NCIC newcomer Morris. Turns out Hall needed a week 3 opponent as well and Connell arranged the meeting with former Hall coach and athletic director Gary Vicini this spring.
Connell would like to extend their one-year contract next year.
“We want to play the best. We believe Spring Valley Hall is one of the best,” Connell said. “When you look over the last 25-year period, they’ve been there every year. We hope we can play at their level.”
• Did you know?: Peoria Notre Dame coach Tom Gullickson is the brother of former big league pitcher Bill Gullickson. Tom Gullickson played on the offensive line at the University of Notre Dame from 1973-77, at the same time Joe Montana was the Irish’s quarterback.
In a 2008 interview with the Peoria Times Observer, Tom Gullickson said he missed a block in a scrimmage game which resulted in Montana getting hit hard enough to separate his shoulder and miss a season. When Gullickson saw him a few years later, he said he asked Montana if he remembered him and Montana said, “How could I forget you Gully?”
Tom played football for legendary Joliet Catholic coach Gordie Gillespie, who cut Bill because he had too good of a future in baseball.
Gullickson has brought his running attitude from Joliet Catholic with him to Peoria. He said it was easy to run at Joliet, because “we had a bunch of big Polish kids that could block, and that made it easy.”
• The little hurt: Drew Compton, all of 5-9, 170 pounds, tried to bring down big Manual TE Brandon Watson (6-5, 235) with a high and hard tackle, but didn’t wrap him up and kind of bounced off him. When the play was over, Compton turned to the PHS coaching staff, and said with a smile, “he’s got a few (pounds) on me.”
Though it didn’t look like much at the time, Compton’s shot did cause Watson much discomfort. He was attended to after the game for a bruised sternum and sent to the hospital for examination.
One Manual assistant basketball coach works with the chain gang during Rams football games and said both he and head basketball coach Derrick Boothe cringes every time Watson and all-state guard Marvin Jordan get hit on the football field.
• They said it: Connell, who is in his 18th year at Quincy Notre Dame, has a coaching philosophy of his own.
“Coaching is not what you did for me in 2008; it’s what you did for me in 2009. It’s not what you did for me in week 2, it’s what you did for me in week 3. You’ve got tot take care of what’s in front of you,” he said.
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