Midwest Division -- Tough Battle Ground For Steamwheelers
Gary Stibolt
Sunday June 13, 2004
Peoria has always been a tough foe in the Midwest Division. Their problems have been personnel problems with head coach, Bruce Cowdrey generating the turnover. It is Peoria’s defense that has kept them in most of their games and actually gives their offense a chance to win. Last night was such the case when they defeated the first ranked Louisville Fire.
Green Bay, a year ago, was a tough team who seemed to lose the close ones. This year, they have put together a competitive team and actually pull off some surprising wins. They even have a chance at seeing post season play if they can win the division. The thing is they have a chance.
Louisville is now lead by Tommy Johnson and he has a good quarterback in Matt Sauk. The Fire are having their most successful season since they joined the league. Each team in the Midwest Division has three remaining games in division play. Each one will have playoff implications as they are must win games.
Looking at the rest of the league now, you could argue that every game is a must win game in order to have a birth in the upcoming post season run for each of the Midwest division teams. The Quad City Steamwheelers understand that full well. After losing their last three games, it is evident at exactly how difficult it is to win week in and week out. Louisville showed that as well. Look at the teams that have mastered a powerful performance one week only to follow it up with a loss to a team they perhaps shouldn’t have lost to: The Pioneers following the Steamwheelers win in week four, the Steeldogs upset last week, the Steamwheelers loss to San Diego following a dominating performance over Wichita, and so on.
This weekend, the Steamwheelers travel to Green Bay in a desperate need for a win. Louisville will host the Peoria Pirates in a rematch game from last nights upset. With the Fire sitting at 7-3, they lead the division and a win next weekend will keep them out in front of the Steamwheelers who trail at 6-4. A loss by either team will tighten up the Midwest division and makes the Peoria at Quad City game important (not to say they all aren’t). If the Steamwheelers and the Fire do win out until the last weekend in the regular season, it will make their encounter at the Mark very critical. The advantage will be that the Steamwheelers only need to win by a margin of 2-points to claim a tiebreaker in a –head-to-head scenario.
However if you were to ask Coach Ingold about the division, it isn’t exactly what he is concerned about right now. When you win, things like the division race fall into place. “I don’t know, I think ending up with a 12-4 record is a pretty good season,” stated Coach Ingold as he responded to a reporters question following a tough loss at home Saturday evening. “I got to circle the wagons and correct our mistakes. We made mistakes at critical points in the ball game. I don’t even look at the division or Green Bay until they come up on the schedule. NOW, is when I start thinking about Green Bay.”
The Steamwheelers are not accustomed to a 3-game losing streak and there are issues they need to address to clean up the mistakes. Mistakes that come in situations when you have a team pinned down deep on a 3rd and 24 then a 4th and 10 only to give it all up for a first down or a score. Green Bay will not be an easy task and compound that with having to win on the road has proven to be a tough proposition for the Steamwheelers. The game is critical to the Steamwheelers for several reasons besides just getting a win. It keeps them on pace to have a chance to compete in the post season. It also will boost confidence and reaffirm what the Steamwheelers know they can do…Win!
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.