Fantastic End to a Historic Season
Michael Vergane
Friday August 11, 2000
King returned two kickoffs for touchdowns and a missed Michael Proctor field goal for another as the Steamwheelers finished their af2 season with a perfect 19-0 record. Shon King opened up the scoring with a 54-yard kickoff return to give Quad City an early 7-0 lead. King said after the game that he felt it was going to be his night.
"As a kick returner you feel that once you return one you are in a groove. And that is the kind of groove I got into. I just felt I couldn`t be touched on returns tonight."
Quad City went into the locker room with a 41-31 lead. Little did the national television audience and the sellout crowd at "The Mark of the Quad Cities" realize that they were about to witness one of the most exciting halves in recent football memory.
The Vipers took the opening half kickoff and struck quickly with QB Bryan Snyder hitting Bobby Washigton for 34 yards to cut the Quad City lead to 41-38. The Steamwheelers took over and on the first play from scrimmage, QB Billy Dicken was picked off by LB Ronald Bonner. Dicken however believes that there should have been a flag on Bonner.
"I think the guy (Bonner) was out of the box. When I am throwing a hitch out to Shon (King) on my third step - and the linebacker is picking it off - I don`t understand that." Two plays later it was Viper QB Bryan Snyder running it in from the 1-yard line to give them their first lead of the night, 45-41.
On the ensuing kickoff, the ball hit off the bottom of the crossbar and took a strange bounce between Shon King and Xavier Patterson. Tennessee Valley`s Ronald Bonner recovered the ball and the Viper lead was now 52-41.
With the sellout crowd silenced and momentum clearly in the Viper`s corner, Shon King put the team on his shoulders and showed why he is the most dangerous player in the af2. King returned his second kickoff of the evening for a touchdown just when his team needed it, and the Steamwheelers stopped the momentum and closed the lead to 52-48.
The Vipers then put together a drive that ate up close to 5 minutes. They stalled at the Quad City 22, and Michael Proctor came out and attempted a 40-yard field goal. The ball was wide left and Shon King returned another ball for a touchdown to give the Steamwheelers a 55-52 lead.
Record-setting Steamwheeler quarterback Billy Dicken finished the evening 14-18 for 231 yards , 4 touchdowns and 2 touchdowns rushing. For Dicken however, his season is not over. After a couple of days rest he is off to the CFL as a backup QB for the Hamiton Tiger-Cats. "They had a QB go down with a broken leg who is lost for the season. They knew about me because I was in their camp a while back. They just signed me. They wished me luck in this game, so Sunday I`m on a plane to Canada. It makes for a long season!" But a historic season.
Michael Vergane was a writer for ArenaFan Online from 2000 to 2002.
