Storm Lake's Cameron Boyd checks with the referee when lining up for a play against Sioux City West during a Sept. 21 game.
Ryan Timmerman
For a short time during the 2023 season, it looked like the Storm Lake High School football team was on the verge of pushing for a playoff spot.
Then things got all twisted for the Tornadoes.
After a 2-2 start, Storm Lake earned its first-ever win over a Class 4A school with a 28-19 win over Sioux City West in Week 4 to give the Tornadoes a winning record with four weeks remaining.
However, Storm Lake wound up with a final mark of 3-6.
The Tornadoes' biggest hole to fill will be replacing dual-threat quarterback Carson Lullmann, who threw for nearly 2,000 yards with 24 touchdowns against eight interceptions, plus over 160 yards rushing with two more scores.
In 2024, though, Storm Lake brings back an intriguing -- if somewhat unproven -- group.
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The most productive of the Tornadoes' returners is junior Cameron Boyd, who had 59 catches for 814 yards and seven touchdowns.
This season, though, Boyd may be the top candidate to take over as signal-caller, in which case junior Rylan Richardson and sophomore David William are set to be next in line to round out Storm Lake's skill positions on offense.
Richardson was a Swiss Army knife for the Tornadoes last season as he accumulated 40 catches for 392 yards and six touchdowns while also chipping in 13 carries for 74 yards.
William caught 31 passes for 376 yards and four scores.
While Storm Lake amassed impressive passing numbers, the Tornadoes played from behind quite a bit, especially late in the season.
Should the Tornadoes find themselves in front more often this season, Storm Lake may need to establish a more consistent running game after rushing for just 404 yards as a team in 2023.
On defense, Storm Lake loses four of its top five tacklers in Joey Rice, Bachi Keyanye, Cole McAtee and Angel Zaragoza- DeLaPaz. Rice went for 69 ½ tackles while Keyanye and McAtee combined for over 60 tackles.
Richardson, though made 20 ½ tackles (16 solo).
Richardson was also a threat on special teams as he and returning sophomore Vilah Chaiyawong split 28 kick returns nearly in half and each went for 220 return yards.
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