Storm Defense Stops Wolves, 64-32

Creek Valley’s Storm Football team hosted the Arthur County Wolves Friday night to cap Homecoming Week in Chappell, and the highly-anticipated matchup against the two 4-and-1

D6 rivals drew a large crowd for the game. Both teams feature a high-scoring offensive attack,but it would be the Storm’s impressive defensive effort that was the difference in the game as Creek Valley pulled away in the third quarter for a 64-to-32 victory.

Arthur County started the game on offense, and after moving the ball into Creek Valley territory fumbled on a fourth down attempt to stop the drive. Creek Valley capitalized and moved the ball into scoring position only to have junior Eli Schmid’s pass to the end zone intercepted by the Wolves to stop their first drive. Again Arthur County drove the ball, with a big run by senior running back Alex Worthing to bring the Wolves into Storm territory. A third down pass across the middle by junior quarterback Bryce Hanna was intercepted by Creek Valley senior Tucker Graeff stopping the Wolves second drive and keeping the game scoreless. A big run by junior running back Lucas Trulillo set up an option run by senior running back Justin Ningen, and he got around the end and into the end zone, and after a missed point after attempt, the Storm was up 6-to-0.

But the Wolves fired right back, and found themselves deep in Storm territory after a big completion by Hanna, followed by a short touchdown run up the middle by Worthing, and the game was tied at 6-to-6. Creek Valley went on offense and picked up a big chunk of yardage on a pass from Schmid to senior Oakley Hodges. But the Storm could not punch the ball in and turned the ball over on downs.

Arthur County followed suit by also driving into Creek Valley territory , then turning the ball over on downs also. The second quarter started with Creek Valley again driving the ball deep into Wolves’ territory, but this time Trujillo was able to punch the ball in on a short run, and after a successful point after, the Storm had a 14-to-6 lead. Again, the Wolves responded quickly with a big play, and again scored but missed the point after, narrowing the Creek Valley lead to 14-to-12. However, the Storm defense started to get pressure in the Arthur County backfield, and began to stop the Wolves drives while continuing to score. The teams went into halftime with Creek Valley leading 30-to-20, and that 10 point cushion was all the Storm needed as their defense was able to shut down Arthur County in the third quarter, only allowing one touchdown while Creek Valley’s offense put up 26 points in the period.

Creek Valley Head Coach Joe Kupper said after the game, “Defensively, I felt like the guys did a tremendous job of executing the game plan.  Arthur County was able to sneak a few big plays against us, but we were able to hold a dynamic spread offense to just over 300 yards, which is very difficult to do.”

The game ended with a final score of 64-to-32, with the Storm pulling away once their defense managed a few stops in the second quarter then kept the momentum going throughout the third quarter. Schmid had a stellar night throwing the ball, completing 12 of 14 passes for 268 yards and two touchdowns, while Trujillo rushed 15 times for 82 yards and two touchdowns. Ningen rushed 16 times for 78 yards and three touchdowns while also completing four passes for 83 yards. Hodges had seven catches for 146 yards and two touchdowns while kicking five extra points in the victory. Creek Valley next travels to South Platte to take on the 4-and-2 Blue Knights on Friday.