Steamwheelers Defense Upsets Wolves
Gary Stibolt
Saturday June 25, 2005
The win marks the second number one team on the season that the Steamwheelers claimed victory over. The first came earlier in the season on April 30th when Quad City beat Memphis 45-42 as time expired giving the Xplorers their first loss of the season.
The Steamwheelers enter the bye week on a high note with a two game winning streak and going 3-1 in the second half of the af2 season. "This is exactly where we wanted to be heading into the bye week," stated Steamwheelers head coach Rick Frazier. "We knew it would be tough coming in here but we felt we had a pretty good game plan and everyone in our locker room knew we could come in here and come away with the win."
The Steamwheelers kickoff to open the game and the Wolves wasted no time scoring on their second play from scrimmage but a missed PAT made it 6-0 Manchester. Sam Clemons responds on a bad throw that was nearly intercepted and a bounce off the defenders helmet was recovered by Tim Dodge for the Steamwheelers first score. Nick Gatto's PAT attempt was blocked and we were knotted up at six.
It was a tug of war battle throughout and the Steamwheelers offense did everything they could to stay out of the endzone while their defense did everything they could to keep Manchester out of theirs.
DeOnte' Taylor comes away with an interception as he rips the ball away from the intended receiver as he juggled the ball for control. It looked promising for Quad City but mistakes by quarterback Sam Clemons kept the battle close and the Steamwheelers found themselves down 25-13 at the half.
"We had a total team effort and we don't give up," said Frazier. "We had some dejected heads in the locker room at halftime but we kept things together and came out as a team. We coached at half time. The officials were going to let the linebackers get as wide as they could so we played our guys inside and adjusted very well."
In the second half, the offense performed much better and the game plan was coming together. For the defense, it was working already.
"We challenged them out in the open field," explained Frazier following the game. "That was the plan and with some different schemes up front, we felt we could get pressure and take them out of their comfort zone. We really tightened down the secondary. No one saw us do it that way. You just don't do it that way in the arena game but we felt that was our best chance to beat them. One of the things when you win ten in a row and a majority of them for two touchdowns or more, you don't get out of your comfort zone and we got them out of their comfort zone. I gave all our nine line guys collectively the game ball for getting Eaton out of his comfort zone."
The Steamwheelers went scoreless in the second quarter and their defense returned the favor to the Wolves in the third quarter. The fourth quarter was a see-saw battle of defensive stops. The Steamwheelers offense couldn't convert let alone score and the defense kept giving them the ball back recording three defensive stops. The Steamwheelers offense finally scored on their fourth possession leaving the score 41-39 and that is where it stayed as Nick Gatto hooked the PAT and :48 seconds left to go in the game.
The nail biting began...again! It was up to the Steamwheelers defense...again and they kept Jake Eaton and the Wolves from gaining any yardage on their last drive and they chewed up all their timeouts. It came down to fourth down and ten and Manchester, with a two point deficit, decides to put the game on the foot of Kicker Rich Ehmke who was marginal at best on the evening. It was a 46-yard attempt that went right and Travis Burns recovers and the Steamwheelers get the ball at the five yard line with :21 seconds remaining. The Wolves can't stop the clock. Everyone was holding their breath as the kick left Ehmke's foot.
"It looked good believe it or not for about half way then it sailed right and was off two or three yards," explained an excited Rick Frazier following the game. Sam Clemons seals the victory with a rush forward and time expires.
Line coach, Jon Roehlk stated, "It's come down to that...five times like that for us and we've always come up short and I'm glad that we finally had one go our way. We got the win and it feels good and its' a great present for my 34th birthday!" Thirty-four or not, this is one celebration the 'Wheeler nation will be enjoying until it is back to business on the ninth.
The af2 enters a first-ever league-wide bye week for the fourth of July holiday. They return home for a rematch with Green Bay at OS Field at The MARK of the Quad Cities on Saturday, July 9th.
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.