I – Oh – WA and 3

Scott Reed
Sunday April 22, 2001

All is not well in Des Moines, Iowa. To the 5,230 fans (about 200 from the Quad Cities) that ‘packed’ the Barn Saturday evening, they were treated to a collegiate Spring Game. You see, in a Spring Game a college coach assembles his ‘A’ team together to see how they perform. Those on the other side are made up of the rest of the bench. The results are usually, terribly one-sided.

Unfortunately for Barnstormer fans, they were on the ‘other side’ of a 47-7 loss to the Quad City Steamwheelers.

By watching the game you wouldn’t have known that this was Iowa’s third game of the season. QB Jason Murdock threw for a total of 65 yards on 13 of 33 passes. No receiver gained more than 8 yards on a completion. Field goal attempts, as well as the two kick-offs performed by K Mike McKnight were well short or off target. OS Nick Johnson was continuously redirected by Murdock to set up in the correct alignment. A majority of the Barnstormer offense was ‘generated’ by the 48 Quad City penalty yards and the 54 kick off return yards.

This game hurt the loyal AFL Barnstormer base. They came out to give af2 a try and witnessed the style of play they feared ever since the AFL Barnstormers left for New York. These fans can accept losses but not through the means of consistent poor play. The only near-term bright spot is that they play the 0-3 Memphis Xplorers (a 97-7 casualty of the Quad City Steamwheelers) next week at home. However, the quality of that game would put an asterisk against that W(in).

To take some of the weight off of the Barnstormers, the Steamwheelers showed a sign of weakness as well. If future opponents can get to QB Jay McDonagh, Mike Gluski would have to step in. Mike came onto the field directing the offense in the 3rd quarter. He seemed to be confused by the Iowa defense most of the game. If it weren’t for a 41-yard pass, his other 7 completions would have only netted 47 yards.

The other area of concern for Head Coach Frank Haege was the defensive penalties. The ‘goose-egg’ would have been applied to Iowa had it not been for 3 penalties on an Iowa drive while leading 27-0 in the 2nd quarter. Could they have been attributed to intense play or a mental lapse? Whichever the case, they cannot afford it when they play better teams.

Good luck to both teams because the schedule only gets tougher!

 

The opinions expressed in the article above are only those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts, opinions, or official stance of ArenaFan Online or its staff, or the Arena Football League, or any AFL or af2 teams.

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Uncle! 5/15/2001
I – Oh – WA and 3 4/22/2001
One if by Land, Two if by Sea 4/18/2001
The ‘’NEW’’ Barnstormers Debut 4/3/2001
Same Game, Different Faces 2/4/2001
Nashville Closes Season and Book On Barnstormers 8/8/2000
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