Storm tackle Fulton
FULTON — The weather conditions were far from ideal, but the Bureau Valley Storm scored on first quarter drives of 65, 65 and 52 yards to jump out to an 18-point lead on its way to a 44-6 win over the Fulton Steamers on a soggy field in Big Rivers football action Friday night.
The win improves the Storm to 5-1 on the year and gives it a second chance at a share of a conference title as it will face the Morrison Mustangs next Friday. The Mustangs defeated the Amboy Clippers 35-6 Friday to advance to 6-0 in Three Rivers play..
“We’ve talked about the fact that we want to be physical every time that we take the field,” BV coach Jeff Ohlson said after the game. “We told the kids before we left the locker room, ‘guys, this is our kind of weather, and we’re going to find out who is the more physical football team tonight.’ I thought that the kids responded pretty well and really played a physical football game up front and in the defensive backfield. Since about halftime of the Amboy game, we’ve learned something, that we need to be a physical football team and we’ve got to execute. I thought that tonight we were physical and we executed.”
The Steamers felt the pain of the Storm’s need to be more physical, as they managed only 13 yards offense on two first quarter drives as the Storm amassed 182 yards and three scores, largely on the punishing running of Michael Weidner who finished the night with 212 yards and three touch downs, including scoring runs of 56-and 54-yards.
“Michael is a great player,” Ohlson said. “He’s put in a lot of time and a lot of effort to make himself a great player. He learns a little more about running the football every game. It’s nice to have a kid back there that you can do that with. Our kids block really well for Michael. He’s one of our team leaders. His leadership on and off of the field is tremendous.”
The Storm elected to receive the kick in the adverse conditions here Friday, and capitalized immediately. Weidner had runs of 31, 21 and the final two yards to put his team up 6-0 with less than three minutes run off of the clock.
The Storm pushed the Steamers backwards on fourth-and-one to get the ball back and six plays later, Ryan Hix broke several tackles to score on a 14-yard run.
A Fulton three-and-out gave the Storm the ball at its 48 and eight plays later John King called his own number for the final 10 yards to put the Storm up 18-0 as time ran out in the opener.
The second quarter was more of the same, as Joe DeVenney sacked Fulton’s Tyler Renkes to force a punt, which gave the Storm the ball at its 44.
This time it took only one play as Weidner broke through the line then out-ran the Steamer defense for the 56-yard score.
After the lone Storm punt of the game, the defense held the Steamers in check to get the ball back.
On third-and-long, Weidner once again broke free for a 54-yard scoring run which was capped-off by Jack Brousseau’s PAT kick, which garnered one of the loudest cheers of the night to set the halftime score at 31-0.
Hix finished the Storm’s first drive of the second half with a 14-yard scoring run that, with Brousseau’s kick, put the Storm up 38-0 halfway through the third quarter.
The lone Storm hiccup on defense of the night was the result of a Steamer tip-drill downfield that fell into Brandon Schneider’s hands, who out ran the Storm secondary for the Steamer’s lone score of the evening.
Brad Sanden got the six points back on a 61-yard scoring run on the Storm’s next possession to end the scoring for the night.
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