Storm bounces back in a big way
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| The Bureau Valley Storm rushed for 208 yards against St. Bede Friday. (BCR photo/Chris Yucus) |
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PERU — Sometimes a loss can be a good thing.
Coming off of last week’s 23-14 upset loss to Amboy/LaMoille, the Storm rededicated themselves on the practice field, and the results showed Friday night at the Academy.
“In practice the coaches were on us hard this week because they knew we were better than that. We just wanted to go out and prove it, and we did tonight,” said Storm fullback Michael Weidner, who rushed for 137 yards and had touchdown runs of 80 and 20 yards on the evening.
The Storm (3-1) ran out to an early 20-0 lead before intermission, and put up another 20 on the board in the second half to post a 40-0 shutout win over the Bruins of St. Bede.
“I thought we came out and played the way we’re capable of playing,” said Storm coach Jeff Ohlson. “I thought tonight we executed pretty well.”
The Storm started their scoring off when Jack Brousseau blocked a Bruin punt near midfield and the deflection landed in the arms of Alex Franklin, who scampered 40 yards to the endzone to give BV a 6-0 lead after with 4:46 to play in the first quarter after the extra point kick failed.
A one-yard touchdown pass from John King to Tanner Schoff set up by a 12-yard run from Austin Petersen, and subsequent two-point conversion put the Storm up 14-0 with 6:53 to play until intermission.
A nine-play Bruin drive stalled out at the Storm 35 with 2:20 left until half, forcing a punt. Bureau Valley took the ball at their own 20 after a touchback on the punt, and Michael Weidner rambled 80 yards down the right side on first down to find paydirt and a 20-0 Storm lead after the extra point kick missed.
“My lineman just got to their blocks and executed their blocks. I made a guy miss at the line, and it was all downhill from there I guess,” Weidner said.
With time ticking down until halftime, St. Bede worked their way down the field. Facing a fourth and five at the Storm 34, Bruin quarterback Ryne Denis hooked up with tailback Cody Shipp on a 29-yard pass completion down the right side to put them first and goal at the five.
Shipp appeared to be ready to score on the next play, as he took a handoff and plunged towards the goal line, but he lost the ball into the endzone just before he broke the plane, and BV fell on the ball to end the Bruin’s drive.
King hooked up with Austin Peterson for a 37-yard touchdown completion following a fumbled punt by the Bruins’ Kevin King to go up 27-0 with nine minutes to play in the third. BV added two more scores, a 20-yard run from Weidner set up by an interception by Schoff, and a two-yard dive over the pile from Ryan Hix to start the running clock with a 40-0 advantage with 10:44 left in the contest.
“By far that’s the most physical team, and maybe the best team we’ve seen, and we’ve played some really good teams.” said St. Bede coach John Bellino. “Physically they are as tough as kids and as strong as kids as we’ve seen.”
• St. Bede won the JV contest 26-16.
