In a Battle to the End the SaberCats Fall to the Barnstormers 73-68
Leanne Cozart
Sunday June 16, 2013
The Iowa Barnstormers (6-7) came away from this tough matchup against the San Jose SaberCats (8-4) with a 73-68 victory after playing well in every phase of the game. The SaberCats got off to a rough start against the Barnstormers on Saturday as they began the game with a crucial fumble by kick returner Fred Williams on the opening kickoff forced by Barnstormers fullback Kai Brown. Then Iowa recovered the ball and quickly responded with a drive downfield to take a hold of their first lead of the night. From then on throughout the first half of the game each team traded scores. The Barnstormers closed the half with a field goal to gain a three point advantage heading into the third quarter.
Opening the second half, the Barnstormers punched the ball in for a score in to gain a bigger lead and then the two teams continued to trade touchdowns. The SaberCats had a glimmer of hope in the final seconds of fourth quarter to take the lead after veteran defensive back Clevan Thomas got his ninth interception of the season following an unsuccessful onside kick. Despite having a brief momentum swing and their first defensive stop of the night, the SaberCats quarterback Russ Michna couldn’t convert on the fourth-and-goal. A Barnstormer defensive back deflected Michna’s pass in the closing seconds of the game, sealing the SaberCat’s fate with a loss.
The two missed extra point attempts by Pertuit earlier on and a Barnstormers successful 27-yard field goal to close the half is what put the ‘Cats five points back in this otherwise pretty evenly matched game.
In his return from being injured, Michna put up a great battle throughout the night completing 28-of-39 passes for 392 yards and nine touchdowns. Wide receiver Jason Willis was Michna’s favorite target bringing in nine passes for 116 yards and five touchdowns. Huey Whittaker brought in eight catches for 85 yards and three touchdowns for the night and another top target was Fred Williams who had nine catches for 112 yards and a score.
The ‘Cats defense didn’t have much of an impressive game as they only had one stop and couldn’t bring Barnstormers receiver Marco Thomas’s high production to a halt. Thomas finished the night with 15 catches for 165 yards and six total touchdowns. His high level of play combined with the two touchdowns a piece his teammates Marcus Harris and Jesse Schmidt contributed to the Barnstormers victory, is what gave them the juice they needed to get their second straight win against a tough West Division team. Barnstormers quarterback J.J. Raterink was 33-of-44 passing for 376 yards and nine touchdowns, which is a career high of touchdowns scored in a game for him.
The SaberCats never had the lead in this game and couldn’t get the defensive stops they needed until late in the fourth quarter and the offence couldn’t capitalize on the opportunity. In Arena Football, each team has to cash in a score for every mistake the opposing offense makes in order to gain an edge. The Barnstormers did this well when in the first minute of the game they capitalized on Williams fumble and quickly went down field and got upper hand right away. The ‘Cats had their chance and couldn’t make the plays that could’ve won them the game. In a San Jose SaberCats press release Head Coach Darren Arbet stated, “Iowa played well, but we had opportunities. We just didn’t make the plays when we needed to.”
