September 13, 2024
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Bureau Valley, Erie-Prophetstown meet up in Week 0 scrimmage

Storm will open at Monmouth United, Panthers at Kewanee

By Kevin Hieronymus
Bureau Valley coach Mat Pistole tells Storm quarterback Bryce Helms the play call during Saturday's Week 0 scrimmage vs. E-P. Both teams

Bureau Valley coach Mat Pistole tells Storm quarterback Bryce Helms the play call during Saturday's Week 0 scrimmage vs. E-P. (Kevin Hieronymus)

MANLIUS - Football was back at Storm Stadium on Saturday, even if it was in a modified form.

Bureau Valley and Erie-Prophetstown took advantage of the new Week 0 scrimmages allowed by the IHSA this fall.

Each team ran eight consecutive offensive series, alternating offense and defense for a total of 48 plays with the back-ups playing the final 16. The F/S did the same.

Storm coach Mat Pistole said the Panthers were the perfect fit for this new contest.

“I reached out to them right away. I respect their coaching staff a great deal. I knew we’d have a partner that would do it the right way and we were in it for the right reasons,” he said.

“Coach Pistole and I talked about how live we wanted to go and we agreed we needed to see some live plays and we were going to get after it,” E-P coach Tyler Whitebread said.

Each coach said they got out of it what they wanted.

E-P coach Tyler Whitebread (left) and Bureau Valley coach Mat Pistole shake hands after Saturday's Week 0 scrimmage vs. E-P. Both teams kick off off the season Friday.

E-P coach Tyler Whitebread (left) and Bureau Valley coach Mat Pistole shake hands after Saturday's Week 0 scrimmage vs. E-P. Both teams kick off off the season Friday. (Kevin Hieronymus)

“That all depends what the film looks like,” Pistole said with a smile. “But the most important thing was to stay healthy and we did that. We’re trying to expedite how much you gain between Week 1 and Week 2. So even if we gain a half, we’re able to get out some of those kinks tonight that we wouldn’t before, that’s really what we wanted to do and get some live speed out there.”

Whitebread said there were a few things especially he wanted to get out of the scrimmage.

“We wanted to go against somebody different and go at a higher speed and definitely stay healthy,” he said. “Bureau Valley was a faster speed than our second team, which was super important to us.

“We wanted to get out here and really see what we had. Because at practice a lot of things look good. Everything works at practice. This was an eye-opener, especially when we get back to film and we can really see things that we did well and things we didn’t.”

Both teams are set to open the season Friday night on the road. The Storm will take on the Red Storm of Monmouth United for the first time in Monmouth for a Lincoln Trail/Prairieland crossover while the Panthers will venture to Kewanee for a Three Rivers crossover with the Boilermakers.

Pistole said the Storm are ready to get things started

“We’re ready to roll,” he said. “Weight room attendance has been as good as it ever has been for us. Everybody is as bought in as ever. Getting finally to game wek, there’s going to be a lot reflection this week about how hard they worked. The work’s done. Now they’ve got to go have some fun on Friday.”