Post by fwp on Mar 15, 2010 5:01:23 GMT -5
www.tri-cityherald.com/2010/03/15/939592/fever-goes-down-kicking-in-loss.html
There is an unwritten rule that all indoor football teams must follow: you can't trade field goals for touchdowns.
For the most part, that's what the Tri-Cities Fever did Sunday in a 64-50 Indoor Football League loss to the Billings Outlaws in Montana.
The Outlaws, the defending IFL champs, stopped two Fever drives and forced the visitors into field goals on four other drives to take the victory at the MetraPark arena.
"Offensively, we kicked field goals instead of getting touchdowns," said Fever coach Adam Shackleford, whose team drops to 0-2. "Any time you play a good team like Billings, you can't do that. That's the best team in the league. They're the defending champs."
The Fever looked like it could stay with the defending champs at the outset, leading 10-7 after the first quarter on a 1-yard TD run by quarterback Andy Collins and a 43-yard field goal by Brett Jaekle.
But on the first play of the second quarter, Billings quarterback Chris Dixon found receiver James Walton wide open for a 34-yard touchdown strike and a 13-10 Outlaws' lead. Billings would never trail again.
Dixon tossed three TD passes in the second quarter alone, and Eddie Lipscomb's 8-yard scoring run gave Billings a 34-20 halftime lead. Billings outscored the Fever 27-10 in the second quarter.
"We struggled a bit on third down tonight (defensively)," said Shackleford. "We gave up some big plays."
Worse yet, the Fever lost three players during the game.
Linebackers Derek Nicholson and Jo Artis Ratti both went down with knee injuries, and for the second straight game, offensive lineman Tavita Thompson was ejected.
On Nicholson, "We won't know until he gets an MRI next week," said Shackleford. "They said it could be OK. Ratti is also going to get checked. We got some very good news on him, preliminarily."
Thompson's ejection came in the second quarter. It was hard to see what, if anything, he did wrong on television.
Shackleford, watching from the sidelines, agreed.
"He did nothing," Shackleford said. "He separated two players and they threw him out. The referee's explanation was that he shoved a player. I saw absolutely nothing."
But Shackleford said the losses of the three player's had nothing to do with losing the game.
"We made too many mistakes," he said. "I told (the team after the game) to keep working. We knew this was going to be the tough part of our schedule. This (season) is a marathon."
Dixon finished with 195 yards passing with four TD passes for Billings, now 3-0. He also scored one rushing. Walton caught eight passes for 117 yards and three TDs, while Lipscomb had three rushing TDs.
Collins led the Fever with 144 yards passing and two TD passes, while rushing for three more scores. Thyron Lewis caught five passes for 52 yards and two TDs for the Fever, who have a bye next week and then open at home March 27 against the Kent Predators.
There is an unwritten rule that all indoor football teams must follow: you can't trade field goals for touchdowns.
For the most part, that's what the Tri-Cities Fever did Sunday in a 64-50 Indoor Football League loss to the Billings Outlaws in Montana.
The Outlaws, the defending IFL champs, stopped two Fever drives and forced the visitors into field goals on four other drives to take the victory at the MetraPark arena.
"Offensively, we kicked field goals instead of getting touchdowns," said Fever coach Adam Shackleford, whose team drops to 0-2. "Any time you play a good team like Billings, you can't do that. That's the best team in the league. They're the defending champs."
The Fever looked like it could stay with the defending champs at the outset, leading 10-7 after the first quarter on a 1-yard TD run by quarterback Andy Collins and a 43-yard field goal by Brett Jaekle.
But on the first play of the second quarter, Billings quarterback Chris Dixon found receiver James Walton wide open for a 34-yard touchdown strike and a 13-10 Outlaws' lead. Billings would never trail again.
Dixon tossed three TD passes in the second quarter alone, and Eddie Lipscomb's 8-yard scoring run gave Billings a 34-20 halftime lead. Billings outscored the Fever 27-10 in the second quarter.
"We struggled a bit on third down tonight (defensively)," said Shackleford. "We gave up some big plays."
Worse yet, the Fever lost three players during the game.
Linebackers Derek Nicholson and Jo Artis Ratti both went down with knee injuries, and for the second straight game, offensive lineman Tavita Thompson was ejected.
On Nicholson, "We won't know until he gets an MRI next week," said Shackleford. "They said it could be OK. Ratti is also going to get checked. We got some very good news on him, preliminarily."
Thompson's ejection came in the second quarter. It was hard to see what, if anything, he did wrong on television.
Shackleford, watching from the sidelines, agreed.
"He did nothing," Shackleford said. "He separated two players and they threw him out. The referee's explanation was that he shoved a player. I saw absolutely nothing."
But Shackleford said the losses of the three player's had nothing to do with losing the game.
"We made too many mistakes," he said. "I told (the team after the game) to keep working. We knew this was going to be the tough part of our schedule. This (season) is a marathon."
Dixon finished with 195 yards passing with four TD passes for Billings, now 3-0. He also scored one rushing. Walton caught eight passes for 117 yards and three TDs, while Lipscomb had three rushing TDs.
Collins led the Fever with 144 yards passing and two TD passes, while rushing for three more scores. Thyron Lewis caught five passes for 52 yards and two TDs for the Fever, who have a bye next week and then open at home March 27 against the Kent Predators.