Athletic News

Eureka, Ill. - After an 8 hour bus ride on Friday the Storm arrived in Eureka, Ill. practiced and got ready to face the Red Devils from Eureka in their senior day to finish the 2009 season.

After receiving the kickoff the Storm would turn the ball over on downs and giving the Red Devils the ball at their own 27 yard line.  Eureka would go 73 yards on just 8 plays and score the games first touchdown jumping to an early 7-0 lead.  The Storm would take the next possession and go 67 yards for their first touchdown of the afternoon a 29 yard pass completion from Adam Hayes (Chinook, Mont.) to junior receiver Steve Boger (Cokato, Minn.) for a touchdown.

With the score knotted at 7-7 the Red Devils would drive to the Storm 26 yard line on the next possession but be forced to kick a field goal to regain the lead 10-7.  Crown would go 64 yards on their next possession and take their first lead of the game 14-10 on a 7 yard touchdown run by quarterback Adam Hayes as the first quarter would come to an end.

The Red Devils would start the second quarter with a big 52 yard pass play to re-take the lead again in a back and forth game 17-14.  The Red Devils would come up with the games first turnover on the next Storm possession as they would force a fumble of Adam Hayes on a sack on 2nd and 10 from their own 42 yard line.  The Red Devils would turn that turnover and great field position into their third touchdown of the first half and extending their lead to 24-14.  Turnovers would continue to plague the Storm on the ensuing kick off Neil Johnson would fumble the return at his own 33 and it would be recovered by the Red Devils and returned to the 19 yard line before being tackled by Dillion Joyce.  The Storm defense would hold the Red Devils to their second field goal of the game as Eureka would extend their lead to 27-14.

Crown would find their groove again on the next possession as freshman running back Tyler Hallblade would rush for his first touchdown of the game cutting the Red Devil lead to 27-21.

The Storm defense would come up with their first stop of the afternoon as the Red Devils turned the ball over on downs on their next possession at the Crown 30 yard line.  Adam Hayes would lead the Storm offense on a 5 play 70 yard scoring drive ending in a 43 yard pass play to TE Callan McKinley to give the Storm their second lead of the game at 28-27.  The lead would be short-lived as the Red Devils would again score a touchdown on the next drive regaining the lead 33-28.  Crown would counter with the final score of the first half as Hayes would connect with Boger for a second time in the game on an 8 yard completion for the pairs second touchdown connection giving the Storm the lead at the half 35-33.

The second half would start the same way the first half ended as the Red Devils would take the opening drive and score a touchdown missing the extra point attempt but re-taking the lead 39-35.  The afternoon's first punt would come from the Storm as freshman Kyle Knox would punt after a Crown three and out on their first possession of the second half.  The Red Devils would give the ball right back to the Storm with a punt of their own on the next possession.  Hayes would score his second rushing touchdown of the game giving the Storm the lead back at 42-39.

A Red Storm field goal half way through the third quarter would tie the score at 42-42.  After the second Storm punt of the game the Red Devils would break the tie with a touchdown to end the third quarter with the lead 49-42. 

The Storm would tie the score again to begin the fourth quarter with a Hallblade rushing toudown his second of the game 49-49.  The Storm defense would get their first takeaway of the game as Conrad Dewey would intercept a pass at the Storm 13 to prevent what looked like another Red Devil scoring drive.   Tyler Hallblade would score his third rushing touchdown of the afternoon giving the Storm the lead back at 56-49. 

The Red Devils would regroup after their first turnover to even the score at 56-56 on the next possession.  The Storm would again look to freshman tailback Tyler Hallblade as he would rush for his fourth touchdown of the game giving the lead back to the Storm 63-56 with just 3:45 to go in the game.  The Red Devils would score again to create another tie ball game with just over a minute to go in the game at 63-63.

The Storm would start with the ball at their own 19 yard line with 1:08 on the clock and with :14 seconds on the clock Hayes would find Robert Yang on a 31 yard touchdown pass to give the Storm a 69-63 lead. 

With no timeouts and about :10 seconds on the clock the Red Devils got to the Crown 46 before running out of time and allowing the Storm to win the back and forth battle for their 4th win of the season.

For the Storm quarterback Adam Hayes would finish 28-42 for 416 yards and 4 touchdowns throwing and 2 touchdowns rushing to go along with 69 rushing yards on 15 carries.

Three Storm receivers would end with over 100 yards receiving led by junior receiver Steve Boger who would have 9 receptions for 131 yards and 2 touchdowns.  Robert Yang would have 7 catches for 114 yards and the game winning touchdown catch and tightend Callan McKinley would have 5 receptions for 101 yards and a touchdown.

Freshman running back Tyler Hallblade would gain 184 yards on 28 carries for a 6.6 average per carry scoring 4 touchdowns.

The Storm end the 2009 season 4-6 overall and 1-3 in the UMAC.