The Morrison Mustangs took the field at Manlius, IL, on Friday night, October 21, 2016, knowing their season was ending. But they also knew that their Friday nights were filled with memories of great efforts and plenty of excitement. They had topped a State-ranked team at Orion, IL, and played another, North Hancock, leading into the final 90 seconds before falling short. Senior Ethan Fischbach had brought Statewide attention, with his mastery of the kickoff return and entered the Bureau Valley game with the possibility to break a National and IHSA State Kickoff Return record.
Action caused the blanket-wrapped fans several opportunities to drop their blankets in response to big plays on the field. In total, 27 plays generated ten-plus yardage and included the record breaking 78-yard kickoff return by Fischbach to establish a new National High School Kickoff Return record, of eight touchdowns in one season.
The opening quarter started slowly, with both teams failing to establish a running game. The arm of the Storm’s Drake Davis opened the scoring, when he connected on a 29-yard touchdown pass to Bryan Herr at the 5:15 mark, to take a 7-0 lead.
The second quarter saw Davis break a 72-yard rumble that was followed by his one-yard score and a 14-0 advantage. The Mustangs were given mid-field possession due to the Storm’s refusal to kick the ball deep to Fischbach. Three plays into the drive, quarterback Reilly Dolan found Fischbach down the right sideline, and he scored from 39 yards out, to tighten the score at 14-6. Morrison gained two more first downs the rest of the half. The Storm scored on a 35-yard pass from Davis to Jay Edlefson and a 35-yard field goal by Bryan Herr on the last play of the half, to end the second quarter with the Storm up 24-6.
The Mustangs fought back to open the third quarter with a three-yard touchdown by Thomas Dykema that was set up by a 44-yard end run by Jarrett Ruchotzke and a 17-yarder by Aaron Deter. The gap narrowed to 24-12. The Storm need only 75 seconds to retaliate, with a 23-yard touchdown score from Davis to Edlefson, and stretch the score to 31-12.
The Davis to Edlefson combination connected for a 50-yard gain in their next possession. That was followed by a pass interference call on Morrison, which set up a three-yard score by Hunter Schoff. Herr’s strong leg easily advanced the score to 38-7 with the extra point. Failing to kick deep cost the Storm again, as the Mustangs started their drive from the 32-yard line. Dolan immediately found Dylan Keller for a 47-yard completion. He then completed a 44-yard touchdown throw to Ruchotzke to change the score to 38-18. The Storm’s next possession ate up over four minutes of the clock, before Troy Blair found the end zone on an 11-yard run, with 5:33 remaining. The spread opened to 46-18. Anticipating the short kickoff, the Mustangs positioned ten players in the midfield area, with Fischbach standing on the goal line. Herr’s short kick was caught by Cody Southern on the 35-yard line, and he immediately lateraled the ball back to Fischbach on the 23-yard line. The next few seconds made history. Fischbach approached the masses in the center of the field at midfield and cut back to his left. He outran everyone easily down the Bureau Valley sideline to put himself among the elite of high school football players throughout the United States, with his eighth kickoff return of the season. The return also established a National record of 1200 kickoff return yards in a season. Lost in the excitement of the moment, the score changed to 46-24 with 5:19 remaining in the season.
The last five minutes saw the Storm’s Blair score on an 11-yard run. The evening’s scoring ended appropriately as Fischbach reached over the Storm’s defender to grab a Dolan pass and completed a 36-yard touchdown, with only 55 seconds left in the season.
Final score was Bureau Valley 53, Morrison 30.
The offensive tally saw total yards by both teams at 857 yards, with Davis leading Bureau Valley from the quarterback position by completing 11 of 18 passes, for 250 yards, and rushing for 139 yards. Morrison totaled 361 yards with Dolan completing 6 of 10 throws, for 166 yards, and Ruchotzke leading the running corps with 70 yards.
The uniforms will be returned without playoff experience, but the effort and commitment of the Mustangs made Friday night action worth anticipating, knowing the Mustangs would give their best each week.