Post by fwp on Jun 20, 2009 7:07:02 GMT -5
www.elpasotimes.com/sports/ci_12653511
EL PASO -- The grind of the Indoor Football League season meets the grind of the road for the El Paso Generals, as they'll endure a 23-hour road trip to play River City (suburban St. Louis) in a matchup of two of the league's better teams.
River City certainly should be the better rested squad after the Generals arrive for by far their longest journey of the regular season. El Paso, however, brings some confidence after winning at Colorado last week to improve to 8-2.
"That was huge," coach Brian Brents said of winning at the end of a 12-hour road trip. "We had a different mentality. We did a lot of things differently. We had a couple of more practices (during the trip), and that helped us out with staying focused.
"We were physically and mentally prepared. Beating River City would be huge for us."
"This would be a morale booster for us," said the league's sack leader, Ron Ellington. "It would give us that much more confidence. This is a long trip, there's nothing but time to think about the game, what's going on, how we'll handle ourselves."
The Rage comes in with an 8-4 record and is in second place in the Atlantic Division of the United Conference. This is El Paso's first game against a team from the United Conference. And after this game, two of its final three games will be in the El Paso Coliseum. The other is at San Angelo, which will seem a quick jaunt down the road after this mammoth journey.
"River City is a very good football team," Brents said. "Athlete-wise, they are the best team we've faced all year. Their defensive line is very quick. It's like going against our defensive line, which has traumatized people all year long."
El Paso's magic number for clinching a division title is two, meaning if they win and Abilene loses this week, the Generals are division champions. They also are one game back of Billings for the top seed in the Intense Conference, which could mean home field all the way through the playoffs.
Bret Bloomquist may be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; 546-6359.
EL PASO -- The grind of the Indoor Football League season meets the grind of the road for the El Paso Generals, as they'll endure a 23-hour road trip to play River City (suburban St. Louis) in a matchup of two of the league's better teams.
River City certainly should be the better rested squad after the Generals arrive for by far their longest journey of the regular season. El Paso, however, brings some confidence after winning at Colorado last week to improve to 8-2.
"That was huge," coach Brian Brents said of winning at the end of a 12-hour road trip. "We had a different mentality. We did a lot of things differently. We had a couple of more practices (during the trip), and that helped us out with staying focused.
"We were physically and mentally prepared. Beating River City would be huge for us."
"This would be a morale booster for us," said the league's sack leader, Ron Ellington. "It would give us that much more confidence. This is a long trip, there's nothing but time to think about the game, what's going on, how we'll handle ourselves."
The Rage comes in with an 8-4 record and is in second place in the Atlantic Division of the United Conference. This is El Paso's first game against a team from the United Conference. And after this game, two of its final three games will be in the El Paso Coliseum. The other is at San Angelo, which will seem a quick jaunt down the road after this mammoth journey.
"River City is a very good football team," Brents said. "Athlete-wise, they are the best team we've faced all year. Their defensive line is very quick. It's like going against our defensive line, which has traumatized people all year long."
El Paso's magic number for clinching a division title is two, meaning if they win and Abilene loses this week, the Generals are division champions. They also are one game back of Billings for the top seed in the Intense Conference, which could mean home field all the way through the playoffs.
Bret Bloomquist may be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; 546-6359.