Louisville Fire Defeat Tennessee Valley Vipers
Sunday July 29, 2007
LOUISVILLE, KY - The Louisville Fire (9-7) started their final home game of the 2007 season with a quick touchdown strike from Joel Steele to Tiger Jones, extra point was good. Fire took an early lead 7-0 with 12:36 left in the first quarter of play. Tennessee (7-10) failed to respond when Chris Gunn’s pass was intercepted by the Louisville Fires Matt Forbes in the end zone. Joel Steele connected with Tiger Jones for their second touchdown connection of the quarter. The Fire pushed their lead to 14. Fire 14, Vipers 0. On the ensuing possession the Vipers scored on a quarterback draw but failed the extra point attempt. With 3:43 left to go in the first quarter, Fire 14-Vipers 6.
The Fire continued to burn up the scoreboard in the second quarter. They started it just like the first, touchdown pass from Steele to Jones. The Vipers scored with 6:53 left in the second quarter as quarterback Gunn connected to Brandon Isaiah. Dunn completed the two point conversion to cut into the Fire lead 21-14. After a missed field goal attempt by the Fire, the Vipers attacked again when fullback Isaiah scored on a sweep play, after a successful extra point attempt, the Vipers tied the score at 21. To cap off the first half, the Fire took the lead when Steele scored with two seconds left on a quarterback sneak. However, Danny Kight missed the extra point. At halftime, the Fire lead, 27-21.
To begin the second half, Lawrence Mathews intercepted Gunn’s pass across the middle of the field. The Fire took advantage when Steele threw a bullet to Jones to make it a trio of touchdown connections for the night; extra point was good, Fire 34 Vipers 21. It didn’t take long for the Vipers to strike back, they scored on the next possession cutting the lead to six, with 6:07 left in the third; the Fire lead 34-28. After a couple failed attempts in trying to get a touchdown the Fire settled for Knight’s 24 yard field goal, increasing the Fire lead to 37-28.
The fourth quarter began with the Vipers missed a field goal wide right to keep the Fire lead to nine. The Fire turned the ball over on downs, which proved to be costly. On a fourth down conversion Gunn connected with Travis Blanchard on a 34-yard touchdown pass cutting the lead to three after a missed extra point attempt. With 50 seconds left in the game the Louisville Fire turned the ball over on a Shane Adler fumble. The fumble was recovered and taken for 23-yards. On the next play, the Vipers scored on a touchdown pass but missed the extra point. Steele connected with his favorite target of the night Jones on a forty yard bomb. Tiger Jones caught his fifth touchdown of the night. It proved to be the game winner. On a record setting attendance night, the Louisville Fire won their final home game of the 2007 season in dramatic fashion. Final score from Freedom Hall, the Louisville Fire 44, the Tennessee Valley Vipers 40.
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score
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Tenn. Valley Vipers. 6 15 7 12 40 Record: (7-9)
Louisville Fire..... 14 13 7 10 44 Record: (9-7)
Schutt Offensive Player – LOU Tiger Jones
ADT Defensive Player – LOU Matt Forbes
US Army Ironman – LOU Lawrence Mathews
Cutters Catch of the Game – LOU Tiger Jones GW catch at 0:11
