Fulton retains Wooden Shoe a little longer, beats Morrison

FULTON – Northwest Illinois’ most storied high school football traveling trophy will stay on the feet of the Fulton Steamers.

For the first time since spring 2021, the Steamers and Morrison Mustangs played in the Wooden Shoe Bowl, its winner holding possession of the namesake trophy. With a successful ground game on offense and bottling up the Mustangs’ rushing efforts on the flip end, the Steamers concluded their season on senior night with a 41-7 win at Steamer Field.

The traveling trophy, first awarded in 1977, was up for grabs for the first time as the season closer for both teams. Fulton ended its season at 4-5 (3-5 NUIC), and Morrison exits at 3-6 (2-6).

Senior Skylier Crooks, junior Mason Kuebel and sophomore Jonah Lutz combined for 322 rushing yards on 53 attempts, with Crooks (23-143) and Kuebel (16-104) hitting triple digits. The Mustangs, meanwhile, went backward on nine of their first 14 rushing plays, and had to take to the air to get something going; it’s lone score came on a 55-yard completion from senior Colton Bielema to junior Brady Anderson late in the second quarter.

The seniors in the game were in eighth grade the last time the trophy was up for grabs, and for Steamers senior two-way lineman Josiah Heald and his classmates, they finally got the experience the Bowl in their final high school game.

“It means everything,” Heald said. “All of our seniors waited for this moment, and everybody was waiting for this at the end of the year. This was a great game. It’s a big rivalry, and everybody was hyped for this.”

Crooks got the Steamers on the board with an 11-yard touchdown rush 6:30 into the game, and he kept the Steamers’ momentum going right after the kickoff – an onside chip by senior Jacob Huizenga wound up in Crooks’ hands near midfield to give his team the ball. About 90 seconds later, Crooks capitalized on the possession with a 25-yard TD catch from junior quarterback Braeden Meyers for a 14-0 lead.

“Jacob kicked it and it bounced real high, so I went up to get it,” Crooks said. “Luckily, I held on to it when I came down. That just made the momentum go so high.”

Meyers added a second TD pass in the second quarter, this time to senior Dane VanZuiden from 10 yards out for a 21-0 lead. Meyers tallied 113 yards from the air in the first half, and was under center until 3:41 left in the fourth quarter when senior Dom Kramer, coming back from injury, took over. Kramer, who began the season as starting quarterback, handed off to Crooks with 3:10 to go in the game for the running back’s fourth touchdown, which came on a 2-yard run.

“We were just able to do what we needed to do offensively,” Fulton coach Patrick Lower said. “I thought our kids played with great energy. We flew around defensively and were very active, we were gap sound and were able to nullify their ground game and make them one-dimensional, making them throw the ball as many times as they’re not accustomed to. We challenged our kids to play a more complete second half, and we did that.”

Crooks had his third score on a 1-yard run with 9:30 to play in the third quarter, and Lutz added a touchdown from 3 yards out at the third-quarter buzzer.

“There was a lot of emotion,” Crooks said. “It was the last game I’ll probably ever play, ever again, so I had to leave everything out there. I couldn’t do it without everyone on the line, everyone on the sidelines, it all helps.”

Fulton’s defense stopped Morrison on the ground with seven tackles for loss and two sacks.

“Credit to Fulton, they took it from the opening kickoff,” Morrison coach Nate Vandermyde said. “They played power football that we had a hard time stopping, and when you can’t stop their run, it makes for a long night.”

Fulton has held the traveling trophy since it beat Morrison 56-0 in Week 4 of the 2021 spring season.

The trophy was created many years after the Lincoln Highway rivals played their first game. According to a written history by the late Mustangs coach and athletic director Gus Linke, who helped create the trophy in 1977, “The purpose was to provide motivation to the intense football rivalry and lend a sportsmanship flavor to the strong Dutch heritage of both communities.” The wooden shoe itself came from Morrison High custodian Ralph Keiser.

The two schools played their first football game in 1901, but the series was played intermittently until 1946, when both schools joined the Illowa Conference. Morrison leads the all-time series 57-30-5; a record that includes playoff games in which the trophy is not up for grabs – such as when the two faced each other in last year’s Class 1A playoff opener in Morrison, a 34-12 Mustangs win.

While Fulton ends the regular season on a high note with retaining the Wooden Shoe, Morrison waits another year. Vandermyde, a Morrison alum, took Friday’s tilt as “just another game,” he said, hoping most to have his seniors end on a high note.

“Yeah, it’s the Wooden Shoe Bowl, and, yeah, there’s the trophy, but we just had to treat this week just like any other week and try to come out on top,” Vandermyde said.