Football: Fulton rolls past rival Morrison in final game – for now – of Wooden Shoe Trophy

MORRISON – The esteemed Wooden Shoe is headed to Fulton, and it’s going to stay there for quite a while.

The traveling trophy, awarded to the winner of football games between the Steamers and the Morrison Mustangs, won’t be played for in the near future due to the Steamers moving to the NUIC next year. Friday’s 56-0 Steamers shutout at E.M. “Bud” Cole Field assured bragging rights to the trophy – a real wood shoe fastened to the bottom of a plaque base – until whenever an opportunity arises that the two schools play each other again.

Fulton (3-0) will hold on to it for a long time, but it didn’t take very long for the Steamers to have complete command of the game.

Kyler Pessman ran back the opening kickoff more than 90 yards to put the Steamers up 7-0, and when the Mustangs returned the ensuing kickoff, it wound up being a disaster for them. The Mustangs (1-3) fumbled the ball and it landed within Zach Dykstra’s reach to give the Steamers the ball back at the Morrison 20-yard line.

Dykstra called it a bit of luck, but it was his quick actions that kept the Steamers’ momentum sailing.

“I saw one of my guys right in front of me, and Morrison all around me,” Dykstra said. “All of a sudden I see this ball pop up above everybody and it falls down, one guy went for it and missed it, and I just jumped on it, hoping I could have it. I don’t know how, but I somehow got it and I was hanging on for dear life.”

Ethan Rash covered those 20 yards on the next play, running in for a 14-0 lead.

The pair of blows took just 28 seconds.

Pessman later added a touchdown reception and a rushing TD as he scored three different ways.

“The kickoff return was big-time,” Pessman said. “We wanted to get off to a fast start, and that kickoff return was so important because it really boosted our confidence. From then on, when we scored [next], we just had so much confidence in ourselves and got the job done.”

Pessman’s rushing score and a Jacob Jones TD reception put the Steamers up 28-0 after one quarter; Fulton had outgained Morrison 120-3 at that point, and also had two potential touchdowns called back due to penalties.

“They got us from the kickoff,” Mustangs quarterback Nathan Helms said. “They ran it back, got the momentum, and they played really well, they played aggressive, they wanted it. Not that we didn’t want it, but it was depleting after the couple of scores. It just kept rolling their way, and hats off to them, they played a real good game.”

Rash also added a rushing and a receiving score before halftime, and Fulton led 49-0. Jones added his second rushing TD in the fourth quarter.

Rash ended with 128 yards on 11 carries; quarterback Connor Barnett completed 7 of 8 passes for 109 yards.

“Our sophomore year we won it at home, and it was a great experience and super fun,” Pessman said of the trophy. “Our junior year we lost it, and that was rough. It sucked losing the Wooden Shoe, so this year we came in here really motivated from losing last year, and we got off to that fast start and went from there.”

Morrison managed only 37 total yards, and was stopped in the backfield nine times. Helms was picked off twice.

“All we can do is go into practice next week and just forget everything that happened,” Helms said.

The trophy was created years after the Lincoln Highway rivals played their first game. According to a written history by former Mustangs coach and athletic director Gus Linke, “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 two schools played their first football game in 1901, but the series was played intermittently until 1946. The shoe, which came from Morrison High custodian Ralph Keiser, was first fought for in 1977. Morrison leads the series 56-29-5; that record includes playoff games.

With both schools being in Class 1A for the foreseeable future, the chances of the Mustangs and Steamers playing again aren’t entirely gone.

“They shut us out last year, and our seniors and our juniors knew that, ever since we were in second grade, knew that this was going to be our golden year,” Rash said. “Now that our season’s cut short, it sucks because we wanted to have a shot to take it all the way, but it feels really good to get revenge on Morrison.”

Football

Fulton 56, Morrison 0

Star of the game: Kyler Pessman, Fulton, 3 TDs (kickoff return, rushing, receiving),

Key performers: Ethan Rash, Fulton, 11 for 128 rushing, 3 TDs; Jacob Jones, Fulton, 2 TDs; Connor Barnett, Fulton, 7-for-8 passing, 109 yards.

Up next: Morrison at Erie-Prophetstown, Monmouth-Roseville at Fulton; both 7 p.m. Friday