Forums - Not Again! Weather plays part in Storm win over Cyclones 27-23 Anyone who watched the first game between the Nashville Storm and St Charles Cyclones would have thought they just had déjà vu Saturday night when the two teams met for the second time thi

Anyone who watched the first game between the Nashville Storm and St Charles Cyclones would have thought they just had déjà vu Saturday night when the two teams met for the second time this season. In the first meeting in Nashville the game was delayed for three hours due to lightening and storms after only seven plays. The chances of the same thing happening between the same teams in the middle of summer were one in a million! That one was Saturday night in front of a packed house for the Cyclones first home game in Warrenton.
(Above Photo Daniel Lester

Marqueas McLaurin

The game did not start of the way the Cyclones wanted when on the second play of the game Storm QB Phellpe Halls pass was tipped up in the air and fell into Storm WR Ivan Burly hands and he outran the Cyclone defense for a 55 yard TD pass and the storm were up 7-0. The Cyclones were not going to be shut out this time putting together a drive of their own that was capped by a Will Rodriguez 49 yard Field goal to bring the score to 7-3. The Storm would once again come up with another big play on their next series when Hall hit Storm receiver Kevin Carter for a 70 yard Td pass on a blown coverage. The Storm missed the extra point to push their lead to 13-3. The Cyclone offense seemed up to the challenge behind offensive line led by Travis Triplett and Jeremy Mcsparren the cyclones dominated the line of scrimmage while running backs Zack Abron and Keenan Miller were ripping off chunks of yardage. The Cyclones punched it in on a 18 yard TD Run by Abron to bring the Storm Lead to 13-10 with still four minutes left in the first quarter. The Cyclone defense would hold the Storm till the middle of the second quarter when Hall threw his third TD of the game to Jeremy Whitaker to take a 20-10 lead. The Cyclones offense once again was not going to be denied and marched right down the field with a good mix of running and passing. The drive was capped with an acrobatic 30 yard TD catch by Cyclone WR Matt Askew from QB Mike McMullen and the Cyclones were now only down 20-17 and the game looked like it would be a shoot out. With the Cyclone defense finally shutting down the Storm the Cyclones got the ball back and was driving down the field to score again. The Cyclones had first down on the Storm 15 with four minutes before the half when the game was suspended.

Mike McMullen

The game would resume at 10 pm in the rain and in the down pour there wasn’t going to be much scoring and the team who didn’t make the big mistake was going to win. The Cyclones came out in perfect position with first and 10 on the Storm 15 yard line, when the first big play by the Storm defense when they tackled Cyclone Running back Zack Abron for a 22 yard loss to take the Cyclones out of Field Goal and scoring range. The game became a battle of field position with both QBs missing wide receivers and receivers dropping passes due to the wet balls. The Cyclone finally put together a drive late in the third quarter and took their first ever lead against the Storm when McMullen hit Keenan Miller for an 11 yard TD Pass to make the score 23-20 Cyclones.

Zack Abron

This score would hold up till late in the fourth quarter when two big plays would be the downfall of the Cyclones. With four minutes left in the game punter Will Rodriguez lined up in punt formation and could not handle the snap, Storm rookie backup linebacker Jerrod Edmonson blocked the punt and gave the Storm the ball on the Cyclones 28 yard line. The Storm would make their second big play in a row when Hall threw his fourth TD pass on a fade to WR Vonte Holliday on an all out blitz by the Cyclone defense. “I couldn’t believe they were in man coverage” Said Storm QB Phellepe Hall “ The ball was soaked, I just tried to get it out there so he could make a play and Vonte made a great catch” Said Hall. The Cyclones would get the ball back with 1:45 remaining in the game, but ended when the Storm Intercepted a Mike McMullen pass to end the game.

In a game that saw 37 points scored in the first 21 minutes and only 13 points in the bad weather it was the big plays that did in the Cyclones. “ This type of football is built on big plays and the Storm beat us on two long passes, blocked a punt and got lucky on a tipped pass for a TD” Said Cyclone Head Coach Troy Robertson. The four touchdown passes by the Storms Phellepe hall was the most ever allowed by a Cyclone defense in their history.

The Cyclones know that one loss does not make a season “ I don’t like to lose, but one game doesn’t make a season and our goal was a Championship” said QB Mike McMullen “ We made our schedule tough for a reason and I don’t know about the rest of the guys but this is what makes football fun” Said McMullen. The Cyclones will definitely be battle tested once the post season comes “These games against the Storm are like playoff games” said Robertson “ I was proud of the team and the Offensive line played lights out, I just wish the weather wouldn’t have played a part in the outcome”