The Morrison Ponies galloped into Manulis, IL, following a victory from last week and wanted to spoil the Homecoming festivities of the Bureau Valley Storm. They had every opportunity to make a stampede of the game, but constantly missed opportunities to put the game out of reach. Bureau Valley claimed a 32-22 win.
On their opening possession, the Ponies marched 47 yards for the score with the aid of a 34-yard run by Tristan DeMay. Aaron Deter carried the last six to open the scoring at 8-0.
The Storm went three-and-out, and the Ponies marched toward the end zone again. Deter coughed the ball at the six-yard line to end the play. The Ponies regained possession on the next snap, as DeMay recovered a Storm fumble on the 20 yard line, and the first quarter ended.
Two snaps into the second quarter, Noah Challand fumbled on the one-yard line to end the scoring chance and returned the ball to BV.
BV’s quarterback, Bryan Herr, immediately scampered for 11 yards and passed for another 11 yards. Aaron Deter threw him for losses in two of the next three plays to force a punt. The wind-aided kick backed the Ponies’ Ethan Fischbach to the 35 yard line to accept the punt. He immediately eluded two tacklers near the left sideline and cut to mid-field, to find a couple blockers. He slid over to the right sideline to finish his 65-yard touchdown return and move the score to 16-0 with 6:28 left in the first half.
The young Storm wasn’t going to roll over. They received the ensuing kickoff and marched out to the their own 46 yard line. Herr connected with Drew Baker on a 54-yard touchdown pass, to tighten the score to 16-8 with only 49.4 seconds left in the half. In the remaining seconds, Deter broke loose for 12 yards. A Storm pass interference penalty gave the Ponies a first-and-ten on the 12 yard line with 12 seconds remaining. Deter bulled for seven yards, before Cody Southern upped the score to 22-8 with 5.4 seconds left in the half.
The Ponies continued to control the offense of the Storm in the third quarter. They controlled the ball over one-half of the period with a drive that started on their own 9 yard line. It ended with a Deter fumbled on the Bureau Valley 3 yard line to end the quarter.
Deter redeemed his fumble on the first play of the fourth quarter, when he sacked the quarterback in the end zone for a safety, to make the margin 24-8. Following the safety, BV kicked from their own 20 yard line and gave the Ponies the ball at the BV 45 yard line to start their next drive. Three snaps later, Deter found a hole over right tackle and ran the remaining 28 yards for another Pony touchdown. The score expanded to 32-8 with 7:59 left in the game.
Teams traded possession until the 3:57 mark, when Herr connected with Drew Baker for another score, and the lead faded to 32-16. The ensuing kickoff was fumbled by Jarrett Rochotzke, and the Storm owned the ball again at the 40-yard line. Ethan Fischbach quickly ended this drive with an interception on the Morrison 10 yard line. The Ponies’ hopes of running out the clock ended when Keller fumbled a snap to the 17-yard line. BV recovered and needed only 18 seconds to move within 32-22, with a with pass from Herr to Spencer Marquez, leaving 2:19 in the game. The Ponies were able to hold on to the ball for the last 2:19 and secure the 32-22 win.
The Ponies dominated the Storm on the ground by gaining 324 yards compared to the Storm’s 32. The passing game of the Storm out-gained the Ponies 167 yards to 0. Aaron Deter led the Ponies’ offense with 127 yards rushing. The highlight films should feature Etahn Fichbach’s 65-yard kickoff return.