Steamwheelers Cripple Wolves
Gary Stibolt
Tuesday April 6, 2004
The damage to the Wolves was far worse than you might imagine. They lost four players to injuries ranging from a pulled groin to a torn ACL. Fullback-linebacker Josh Ison tore his ACL, which ultimately ended his season, wide receiver Reggie Robinson suffered a hamstring injury, lineman Matt Kier injured his knee and Darnerius Watson pulled his groin.
“It’s tough to sustain injuries,” said Manchester head coach Rik Richards. “When we’re healthy, we can go blow for blow with anybody.”
In the first quarter, the Wolves were impressive. They scored first and they were able to put twenty points on the board. However in the second quarter the Steamwheelers settled in and really took it to the Wolves.
“They are the best-coached team in the league…they are the best team in the league,” said Richards about the Steamwheelers. “They found a weakness and they took us to the wood shed.”
The Steamwheelers rolled off with 27-points in the second quarter while their defensive attack limited the Wolves to just six points.
The onslaught continued in the second half. The Wolves were unable to mount any offensive and were kept scoreless until the final :55 seconds of the game. The Steamwheelers however, added 23-points of their own.
The Steamwheelers played very physical. They played physical up front on both sides of the ball and they were tough down field. It was not a matter of beating a team at the Mark, it was the matter of handing out a physical beating. After sustaining multiple injuries and with the game somewhat out of hand, Manchester pulled Chris Sanders out of the game. His backup, Rich Lucero took over in the second half.
“They had enough of a lead and I didn’t see the point in risking another injury with Chris in there,” said Richards. “I’m basically coaching on the run. We had three stops tonight and gave them all back.”
The Wolves entered the game with several players injured and after the brutal attack by the Steamwheelers, Manchester is now forced to go back to the phones and recruit some guys to fill their 19-man roster in time to play the Steamwheelers again this coming weekend.
Gary Stibolt has covered the Quad City Steamwheelers since their 2000 inaugural season. He also owns, operates and is the Chief Editor/Publisher of SteamwheelerFans.com, a website dedicated to the Steamwheelers and their fans. He coresponds for other media outlets covering arenafootball2. In addition to leading the Steamwheelers Fan Club, Gary serves as Coordinator of the National af2 Fan Club. He is married with two sons and works as an Infrastructure Analyst for Deere & Company in their Corporate Computer Center in Moline, Illinois.