Quad City Stays Unbeaten At Home
Michael Vergane
Sunday June 3, 2001
The win kept the Steamwheelers record at home perfect throughout their franchise history. With the win, Quad City also kept pace with the Tulsa Talons in the Midwest Division to go to 8-1. The Stealth fell to 5-4.
In a season that has seen its share of turnovers, as well as a record number of penalties, this game was one of the cleanest played this season. The crowd of 7,255 witnessed no turnovers by either team and a total of only 8 penalty flags thrown.
Wichita jumped out to an early 3-0 lead on their opening posession by way of a 26 yard field goal by Jon Cooper. It was to be their only lead of the evening as Quad City quickly answered with a two play drive capped off by a 30 yard touchdown pass to Offensive Specialist, Craig Cole.
The turning point of the evening came on Wichita’s next drive. Trailing 7-3, the Stealth moved the ball methodically downfield eating up over 7 minutes of the first quarter. Wichita then found themselves with a first and goal at the Quad City four yard line. However, three incomplete passes forced the Stealth to settle for another Jon Cooper field goal to close the gap to 7-6.
Once again, the Steamwheelers struck quickly as Craig Cole caught his second touchdown pass of the evening on the second play of the drive and Quad City led 14-6 never to look back.
Four plays = two touchdowns.
Coach Frank Haege has never been a believer in winning the time of posession battle. In the Arena game, the more plays you run the better the chance of something going wrong. “We have a good defense”, said Haege. “And we made (Wichita) work for their touchdowns. They ran a lot of the stuff we saw on their films so we knew what to expect.”
Ironman of the game, WR/DB Dennison Robinson, had another outstanding evening as he caught 8 passes for 83 yards. Two for touchdowns. Defensively, he added 6 tackles and one pass deflection.
The Steamwheelers played a bend but don’t break defense stopping three Wichita drives inside of the Quad City 10 yard line forcing the Stealth to settle for Jon Cooper field goals.
The Stealth were held scoreless in the third quarter as Quad City jumped to a 44-16 lead. Wichita added two one yard runs by FB/LB Jose Salcido in the fourth quarter to narrow the margin of victory to 21.
The Steamwheelers head to the road next Friday for a Midwest Division match-up against Lincoln. The Stealth take on another Midwest Division leader as they host the Tulsa Talons on Saturday.
Michael Vergane was a writer for ArenaFan Online from 2000 to 2002.
