The Morrison Mustangs entered the final Friday night of the regular season needing a win to guarantee a playoff berth next week in the IHSA State Football Championships. Their opponent, the Bureau Valley Storm, needed a win to have a chance to be invited to the playoffs. As has been the situation for the past two weeks, the defense against the run has been ‘over the edge’ and Friday night this defense’s domination forced the Storm to go to the pass and allowed they to stay in the game for three quarters.
The Storm received the opening kickoff and had absolutely no success against the Mustang defense in the first quarter. They owned the ball on four separate possessions and were unable to earn a first down and lost the ball on a fumble on their second possession and ended the period with four total yards of offense. The Mustangs were four and out on their first two possessions and the third possession was a one-play, 56-yard scamper by Danny Willis to record the first score of the evening at the 4:51 mark. Alex Volckmann made the score 7-0 with a rare extra point kick. The Mustangs started their final first quarter possession with 2:48 on the clock and the ball on their own 45-yard line. The drive ran into the second quarter and featured two hard runs by Andrew Connelly of 18 and 15 yards before Brock Deter covered the last three yards for the second score at the 11:07 mark of the second period. Again Volckmann split the uprights and the Mustangs led 14-0.
Following the kickoff, Bureau Valley’s quarterback, Parker Heuhalfen, was swarmed down for a 6-yard loss by Kyle Meurs, Andrew Connelly and Brock Deter. He came back with a 5-yard quarterback keeper and then threw to a well-covered Tommy Johnston and the pass was deflected but caught by Jordan Monier before hitting the ground for a 22-yard completion. Alex Weeks threw Neuhalfen for another 6-yard loss and forced the Storm to go to the air because the Mustangs were not allowing anything on the ground. After two incomplete passes, the Storm was forced to punt the ball away. Bureau Valley regained possession with a Brian Lange interception of a Matt Wilkens pass on their own 44-yard line. Several short gains and a Morrison penalty earned the Storm a first down on the Morrison thirty yard line. With 3:24 left in the half, Heuhalfen threw to the far sidelines and Jake Smith made a one-handed catch over Volckmann and entered the end zone to make the score 14-6. Willis ran the ensuing kickoff out to the 31-yard line where Deter carried three times to move the ball to the fifty-yard line. The Mustangs went to the air and Wilkens connected with Travis Keller for five, Volckmann for nine, Willis for 14 and Volckmann again for five and the ball was lying first and ten on the eleven yard line with less than fifteen seconds left in the half. Two consecutive chopping block penalties moved the line of scrimmage out to the 41-yard line where Willis was stopped for no-gain to end the first half.
The third quarter saw the Mustangs control the ball for the first 8 minutes and 45 seconds. The drive featured hard running by Andrew Connelly with four carries totaling 26-yards and Wilkens connecting with Willis on two occasions for 8 and 30 yards and at the 5;05 mark, the Mustangs were first and ten at the eleven yard line again. Volckmann gained four and Deter gained two and Wilkens overthrew Willis in the end zone and the ball was on the five yard line. The penalty bug bit the Mustangs again as they committed two ‘false start’ penalties and the ball was moved out to the fifteen yard line. Willis was stopped on a fourth down attempt and the Storm took over on downs at the fourteen-yard line. The Storm moved the ball out of the Morrison red zone with a twelve-yard pass completion from Heuhalfen to Tyler DeBrock . Two plays later Morrison committed pass interference and the Storm ended the third quarter with the ball on their own 44-yard line.
Three plays into the final quarter Morrison regained possession on the BV 45-yard line. A Storm penalty and rushes by Deter and Willis moved the ball to the 15-yard line. On third and fifteen, Wilkens and Willis connected again and the scoreboard moved to 20-6 with 7:00 left in the game.
The only success the Storm had moving the ball was in the air, so Heuhalfen dropped back to pass on the first snap on their next possession only to have Nolan Dykema, Kyle Meurs and Andrew Connelly smother him for a 12-yard loss back to their own 18-yard line. He wasn’t discouraged as he followed the loss with a 49-yard pass completion to Jordan Monier but Monier couldn’t hold on went hit by Volckmann and the ball squirted loose and was recovered on the 24-yard line by Ryan Mayberry. Morrison just needed to run off clock and Connelly punished the Storm defense on four consecutive plays and moved the ball to the BV 47-yard line. The drive later ended with a punt, but Morrison regained the ball on the next play as Brock Deter intercepted Heuhalfen and the Mustangs ran the clock out for the conference win and a playoff date for next weekend.
The Morrison ground game totaled 218 yards with Deter gaining 69, Willis gaining 71 and Connelly grinding out another 87 yards. Matt Wilkens was successful on 9 of 16 pass attempts gaining 94 yards. The defense only allowed the Storm 17 yards on the ground and 119 yards in the air for another dominating evening. Final Score: Morrison 21 Bureau Valley 6