Erie-Prophetstown steamrolls Bureau Valley behind Grunder’s 232 rushing yards, 4 TDs

PROPHETSTOWN – It was a tale of two halves Friday night at Mosher Field, as 3-3 Erie-Prophetstown hosted 1-5 Bureau Valley in a near-must-win game for the Panthers.

The first half of the Three Rivers Conference crossover matchup was tightly contested, with E-P scoring on the opening drive of the game and both teams going scoreless for the rest of the half.

In the second half, Panthers running back Jase Grunder couldn’t be contained, as he rushed for over 150 yards and four touchdowns.

To E-P coach Jesse Abbott, that’s business as usual for his star running back.

“That’s just Jase. That’s just kind of what we come to expect from Jase,” Abbott said. “It’s not anything out of the ordinary. He’s worked so hard to put himself in this position to be this kind of player, and when you get those kinds of stats, it’s a credit to him, it’s a credit to the team as well. But it’s something that, we just feel confident in Jase every time he touches the ball that something good’s going to happen.”

Starting the opening drive from its own 42, E-P marched down the field in a few plays. A 28-yard Grunder scamper moved the Panthers into the red zone.

On the next play, Demetree Larson dashed up the middle for a 14-yard touchdown. E-P took a 7-0 lead with 10:24 to play in the first quarter.

Penalties plagued the Panthers early, as they committed five in the first half alone, with three holds negating three long runs on their third drive.

After three subsequent empty possessions, E-P went into the half leading 7-0. With better technique and discipline in the second half, the Panthers offense exploded for 26 points.

“We were executing [in the second half]. First half, we had so many little mistakes like holding calls and penalties,” Grunder said. “We cleaned those up in the second half and just dominated.”

“We talked at halftime and just challenged them. A lot of our lack scoring in the first half was mostly just shooting ourself in the foot. We had four, five, six big runs that got called back on things that we should be able to fix,” Abbott said. “And they fixed it in the second half. We had maybe a penalty or two in the second half, and on the big plays, we were cleaner. And I think that was just the biggest change.”

After a Bureau Valley three-and-out on its opening drive of the second half, Luke Otten blocked a punt and E-P recovered at the Storm 40. From that point on, the Panthers were rolling.

“It was huge. We needed a stop on defense. We got it,” Grunder said of Otten’s blocked punt. “They punted, then we got that block and all of the energy just transferred over to us for the entire second half.”

E-P made quick work with the short field.

A 31-yard Grunder catch-and-run set up the second touchdown; on the next play, Grunder took it in from 5 yards out, and the Panthers led 13-0 with 5:58 left in the third.

E-P scored again on its next possession. A 50-yard Grunder touchdown run down the right sideline put the Panthers ahead 20-0 with 2:24 left in the third quarter.

Bureau Valley’s Robert Novak raced down the sideline for a 45-yard gain on the following drive, but again, E-P’s defense came up big, forcing a turnover on downs on a Franky Bushaw pass breakup in the end zone.

Grunder struck twice more in the fourth quarter. A 70-yard touchdown run up the gut gave E-P a 27-0 lead with 6:47 to play, then a 30-yard score just under the four-minute mark capped the scoring at 33-0.

“It was huge [to win this week],” Grunder said. “We got Mon-Rose [Monmouth-Roseville] coming up, which will be a tough game, so I knew this was kind of a have-to-win going in.”

Novak rushed 23 times for 122 yards, with a long run of 45 yards to lead Bureau Valley. Isaac Attig caught six passes for 34 yards as the leading Storm receiver.

Grunder finished with 232 rushing yards and four touchdowns on 15 carries, along with one catch for 31 yards. Tyler Ballard added 33 yards on eight carries for the Panthers.

“He’s a really, really good player, and he hurt us last year. We game-planned up to try to stop him, and we didn’t do a good enough job of that,” Bureau Valley coach Mat Pistole said of Grunder. “He’s one of the best players in the conference, and he’s tremendous. Deserves all the accolades he gets.”