Steamwheelers Escape Wolves in Thriller
Gary Stibolt
Sunday April 11, 2004
It was the first professional football game ever played in New Hampshire. Most fans in attendance were true to the core New England Patriots fans and after Saturday night’s game, they likely became diehard Manchester Wolves fans too.
“We needed this,” stated Brian Nelson, an ecstatic Wolves fan who attended the game with his two young sons. “Before this arena was built we would have to go to Boston, which is seventy miles away for any type of good entertainment.”
The Steamwheelers expected a large crowd as they anticipated a sellout. Official attendance reported by the Wolves was 9,005 but it sounded like it was three times that. Steamwheelers Head Coach, Rich Ingold stated earlier in the week that it was important to come out strong and get a jump on the game to take the crowd out of it early.
The Steamwheelers jumped out to a 14-0 lead on a Matt Forbes interception stopping the Wolves on their first drive of the game at the Quad City 11-yard line. That took the crowd out of it for the most part in the first half as the Steamwheelers led at intermission 28-9.
However there are two halves played in this game and the second half never materialized for the Steamwheelers and the crowd was a huge factor.
“We just could not get any momentum going,” said Wheeler quarterback Ronnie Gordon. “We would get a good play, and then a holding call, get another one, and another penalty. Time outs, clock resets, we just could not establish any rhythm. We got out of sync and really didn’t play our game.”
While the Steamwheelers were trying to find rhythm, the Wolves were dancing. The crowd swung into gear with nearly all on their feet as the entire place erupted throughout the second half. The Wolves fed off their fans and vice versa. It was a contagious effect with each defensive stop by Manchester, every official’s call, and every point the Wolves could squeak out of the Steamwheelers.
A lot of credit has to go to Manchester’s quarterback, Chris Sanders, who finished the night completing 14 of 31 attempts for 233-yards and two interceptions. He also mounted five rushes for 36-yards with two touchdowns. Those two touchdowns came on Sanders talent alone as he was hurried and even buried by the Steamwheelers defensive front five but slipped and ducked under to escape the Wheeler fury throughout the second half of play.
“I got to (Sanders) and planted him down on his back and then I heard the crowd go wild and I get up and look and there was a guy 40-yards down field with the ball,” said Steamwheelers lineman Pete Traynor. “I didn’t know he had even thrown the ball.”
Finally, in the fourth quarter on a drive that was plagued by penalties, clock resets, and miscues, the Steamwheelers made it down to the Manchester goal line on a first and goal. On both first and second downs, Coach Ingold called for a quarterback keeper but Ronnie Gordon was unable to punch it in. On third down, he sent in Bear Brown. It looked like a page out of the Mike Ditka ’85 Bears Superbowl book with the famed “Fridge” play. Only in this case, Bear lined up on the left end position and on the snap, Ronnie Gordon followed Bear into the end zone.
This was the first time Quad City was able to score since the Wolves rattled off 19-points making it 42-28 Quad City. The Wolves then scored again and then recovered an on-side kick at their own 1-yard line. They scored on that drive with a 28-yard touchdown pass to Marvin Owens and a good PAT attempt tied the game at 42. However, the Wolves left :28 seconds on the clock and the Steamwheelers drove down to the Manchester 2-yard line on a Jeff Hewitt 28-yard reception on a third down situation. Hewitt did score and they awarded the touchdown but reversed the call saying he was down by contact at the two. That left :05 seconds on the clock and Ryan Geisler comes in and kicks a 17-yard field goal to win a thriller 45-42 as time expired.
“I like winning games like that,” said Ingold. “It was gut check time for us. We learn something in games like this.”
The Steamwheelers will need to apply their newfound knowledge as they take on the Tennessee Valley Vipers this Saturday at the Mark of the Quad Cities.
Steamwheelers Notes:
Pete Traynor suffered a broken foot…Harvie Herrington left the game with severe cramps but was feeling better Sunday…Jon Verdegan left the game with a stinger but returned a couple of plays later. He will miss this weekend’s game against Tennessee Valley due to a wedding…Jamal Cherry is expected to return this week and should be in the lineup against the Vipers.
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.