Jordan Peterson Named BCR Football Player of the Year and.......

News Tribune Offensive Player of the Year.

by Brad Martin- BCR & Jim Cogdal-News Tribune

December 06, 2007

Hall's Petersen can turn a game around with big-play ability
By Brad Martin
bmartin@bcrnews.com
(picture courtesy of BCR)

SPRING VALLEY — Hall senior running back Jordan Petersen is as dangerous as they come in football. Teams would set up their defense to stop or at least slow down the Red Devils All-State candidate, but that didn’t mean they were successful. Petersen’s all around play on the field has earned him the 2007 BCR Football Player of the Year. He rushed for 1,194 yards rushing along with 21 touchdowns and also 388 yards receiving with another three touchdowns.

“Jordan really developed into a nice all around athlete,” Vicini said. “Jordan has the ability to break away from defenders.”

On the offensive side of the ball, Petersen was a unanimous first team NCIC Lincoln selection at running back. "That was a pretty nice individual accomplishment,” Petersen said. “One of my goals going into the season was to gain 1,000 yards and help the team have a winning record as well as reach the playoffs.”

While Petersen was getting well-deserved credit for his offensive numbers, he was also playing solid defense. Petersen would often draw opponents’ top receivers and earning first team All-NCIC Lincoln as a defensive back. “I like going up against teams like Driscoll and covering some outstanding players,” Petersen said. “Driscoll was a very physical team, and I can see why they have won so many titles in a row.”

The goals as a team were high at the start of the season, as the Red Devils were ranked second coming into the 2007 campaign. The Red Devils reached the playoffs and lost to the eventual state champion from Plano. This was the second year in a row that an area team’s season would end at Plano High School. Last year, Bureau Valley lost to the Reapers, who won their first championship in the next game. That is a game that Petersen and company would love to have back. “That game just leaves a bad taste in our mouth, Petersen said. “I really think that if it had not been raining so hard, that we could’ve beaten them. On our first drive, we got down to the three-yard line and fumbled the ball. That really set the tone for the night.”

Petersen was limited to just five carries in the second half and finished the game with 26 yards rushing. Petersen was not limited much throughout the season, though, against some pretty stiff competition. Petersen gained 178 yards rushing with three touchdowns in a 34-25 loss to Eastland-Pearl City in Week 3. With their backs to the wall, Petersen recalls getting a big win in Week 4. The Red Devils came into Week 4 against a tough Chillicothe IVC team with a record of 1-2, and with several tough games still to come, Hall needed a win in a big way. “We had a couple of tough games the two weeks before that game against IVC,” Petersen said. “We needed a win badly, if we wanted to make the playoffs.”

The Red Devils and Petersen responded in a big way destroying the visiting Grey Ghosts 35-7. Petersen rushed the ball 22 times for 161 yards, as well as having five receptions for 93 more yards and three touchdowns. Against the Kewanee Boilermakers, Petersen again showed that he was a double threat on offense as well. “We used Jordan to kind of spread the defense out a bit,” Vicini said. “Korby Kasperski was a good position receiver with short yardage type passes, but Jordan’s speed, we used him down the field and stretched defense out a bit more.” He rushed for 100 yards and then had 124 receiving along with three touchdowns. He then had another solid outing against rival Princeton, where he had 123 yards rushing.

“It’s nice to get the recognition,” Petersen said. “The guys up front were blocking very well, and then out in the open field, I would get some really nice blocks from guys like Korby Kasperski.” In the final regular season contest against 5A Morton, Petersen impressed the Potters’ coaching staff as he racked up 120 yards rushing on the night and three touchdowns. “The past two years, Jordan really accepted the challenge of taking on opponents’ top receiving threat,” Vicini said.

A standout on the ball diamond, Petersen said he will play baseball for sure in college, and then he said he may even suit up and play some football as well.

Hall's Lightning
By Jim Cogdal
sports@newstrib.com

Third on the Hall depth chart behind a pair of bruising running backs, Jordan Petersen’s best asset one year ago was patience. The Red Devils’ Nate Sweezey and Tony Bickett were running all over opponents, combining for more than 2,000 yards on the ground alone. And there was the shifty Petersen waiting in the wings to take the coveted responsibility of being the featured back in the vaunted Hall offense.

When he finally did, he may have become one of the most productive offensive weapons in school history. Petersen ran and received his way to a breakout season, the highest conference honors and title of 2007 NewsTribune Offensive Player of the Year.

“We’ve always had really good running backs, but I have to go pretty far back to remember a back that could (run and catch) like him,” Hall head football coach Gary Vicini says. “Probably compare him to Eric Bryant.” What a comparison. What an honor. What a season Petersen had to back the talk.

The work to get where he finished the year began when he began playing football, back in fourth grade, when it was only of the flag variety. No tackling. By the end of his senior season, he was playing tackle football, but it looked as if his opponents were reaching for a thin cloth they never really seemed to find. It took manual gridiron labor to get that good. He worked in the summers to get stronger, so he could bounce off blockers, tacklers or anything in his way.

(Picture courtesy of News Tribune)