Bureau Valley storms Hall on senior night

MANLIUS – Bureau Valley assistant coach Craig Johnson told the Storm seniors they would remember their senior night 35 years from now. And there will be no need to embellish the stories, because it was that good.

Five different players scored for Bureau Valley as the Storm gained their first win in Three Rivers East play, rolling to a 34-7 victory over Hall, finishing 3-6 overall and 1-5 in the conference.

“This means to the world to me. This means the world to all our seniors. It’s such a great feeling for all of us,” senior left guard/defensive end Carter Haney said. “I love the energy we came out with, just the way everybody here played.”

Senior Jaden Michlig, a halfback/linebacker, said the seniors couldn’t have scripted their final game better.

“It worked out great. I couldn’t be more glad to walk off our home field with a win. It means a lot to all of us,” said Michlig, who rushed for 167 yards and a touchdown. “I think the biggest thing is setting the tone for the people below us, trying to change that culture and bring back Bureau Valley football.”

BV coach Mat Pistole said his seniors mean the world to him, and he was happy to send them off with a win.

“I can’t say enough about these kids and everything they’ve had to go through the last couple years. They kept showing up and believing the way they do,” he said. “I came to Bureau Valley to coach kids like this. It’s made so incredibly rewarding to see this.

“This win was incredibly important for them. They work their butts off. To be able to end on a positive note and head into our offseason with these young guys and send these seniors off the right way. Offense, defense, special teams ... everybody contributed tonight. It was a team victory, a lot of fun.”

Hall (1-8, 0-6) fumbled the ball away on its fourth play of the game’s opening drive, a sign of misfortune ahead for the Red Devils, who fumbled five times, losing three, and were intercepted once.

The Storm made them pay, with senior quarterback Adam Johnson following his blockers up the middle seven plays later for a 3-yard TD run to get the Storm on the board at the 7:02 mark.

Late in the half, the Storm mounted a seven-play, 47-yard scoring drive, with Levi Hardy cashing in from 1 yard out with 30.1 seconds left.

The Storm stats crew told Brock Foster to take the second half kickoff to the house, and that’s exactly what he did, racing 69 yards to boost BV quickly to a 20-0 lead.

Michlig scored a 4-yard touchdown with 7:32 left to play, and then Davey Dietz got in on the fun when he raced 55 yards to paydirt behind a crunching block by Nevin Bolin to make it 34-0 two minutes later.

For Hall, it proved to be a perfect storm in defeat, running into an inspired Storm squad on senior night and making too many costly turnovers.

“It’s easy to get up for your last game of the season on your home field when you’re a senior, and they came to play. We thought we could come and match them tonight, and we just didn’t have it,” Hall coach Nick Guerrini said. “We had a lot of mistakes tonight. We probably haven’t had this many mistakes since the first game of the season. Definitely didn’t help us. We stopped ourselves most of the time.”

Guerrini used a little wrinkle, inserting all-purpose standout Mac Resetich in the wildcat formation to get the ball in his hands more on offense. He rushed for 88 yards and completed one pass for 34 yards; he was intercepted once. He also had five receptions for 115 yards.