Storm reign: BV uses physical style to roll over Steamers

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 their way to a 44-6 Big Rivers win over the Fulton Steamers on a soggy field Friday night.

“We’ve talked about the fact that we want to be physical every time that we take the field,” BV coach Jeff Ohlson said. “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 [in Week 3], 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 (2-4 Big Rivers) felt the pain of the Storm’s physicality, as they managed only 13 yards offense on two first-quarter drives. The Storm (5-1 Big Rivers) amassed 182 yards and three scores, largely on the punishing running of Michael Weidner.

Weidner finished the night with 212 yards and three touchdowns, 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.”

Weidner’s two long TD runs came on BV’s first two possessions of the second quarter and the Storm led 31-0 at halftime. Ryan Hix added his second TD run of the night to cap off BV’s opening drive of the second half, and Brad Sanden closed out the scoring with a 61-yard sprint to the end zone on the next possession.