Twenty9
04-24-2005, 09:36 AM
Koyotes hang on to win APFL opener over Bears, 41-33
By Dave Skretta
The Capital-Journal
Despite an unfamiliar opponent for the Kansas Koyotes, one thing was very familiar -- a win.
It didn't come easily against league newcomer Nebraska, though. The Koyotes led just 35-33 with 3:40 to go before Chris Coffin hit Justin Wrecke for a 14-yard touchdown to make the score 41-33.
After kicker Bruno Vasconcelos missed the extra point, which would have put the game out of reach, Nebraska marched inside the Kansas 10-yard line with less than a minute remaining.
But quarterback Troy Travis was flushed from the pocket and driven out of bounds at the 5-yard line to preserve the win in the closest game in Koyotes history.
"We knew coming in it wouldn't be easy," Kansas coach Warren Seitz said. "A lot of those guys are Division II players and better, just like we have. It didn't surprise us.
"A lot of these guys haven't been under pressure like this for a while. They had to step up and I thought they did a good job of that."
Coffin threw for 122 yards and five touchdowns for Kansas, which has yet to lose en route to back-to-back league titles. Three of those TDs went to Wrecke, who finished with five catches for 61 yards.
"It was a lot tougher, but anything that's worth something shouldn't be easy," Coffin said. "We'd much rather prove ourselves."
While a newcomer to the American Professional Football League, Nebraska isn't an entirely new team. The Bears have played outdoor football for several seasons.
Still, the adaptation to indoor football caused problems all game long. Receivers dropped several passes and the team committed 16 penalties for more than 100 yards, including several illegal defenses.
"It was first-game jitters and not knowing the rules, things like that," Nebraska coach Don Moore said. "We made a lot of mistakes on our side."
Fletcher Smith caught seven passes for 103 yards and two touchdowns to lead Nebraska. Travis finished with 188 yards passing and 18 yards rushing.
Kansas returns to action on Saturday when it faces another league newcomer, the Wichita Aviators, who are quarterbacked by former Kansas State Wildcat Jonathan Beasley.
Seitz said it will be another stiff challenge, made even tougher by the loss of receiver Travis Stallbaumer, who was carted off the field after hurting his left leg in the second quarter.
"They're going to be a very good team," Seitz said. "But this is what we wanted out of the new teams in our league."
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Aviators defense faulty in loss to Blackhawks
Iowa scores 26 points in the second quarter to spoil Wichita's APFL debut.
BY KOLLEN LONG
The Wichita Eagle
A quick coat of paint should take care of the problem with the Wichita Aviators' artificial turf, which still reads "Detroit Fury" in the end zones and at mid-field.
Coach Carl Caldwell can only hope his team's weaknesses can be fixed so easily.
The Aviators, in their American Professional Football League debut, made too many costly errors and lost 40-35 to the Iowa Blackhawks on Saturday night at the Kansas Coliseum.
The Aviators had only a handful of practices, and their pads didn't arrive until last Saturday, so an uneven performance was expected. But three turnovers, along with a defense that couldn't slow the Blackhawks, weren't acceptable to Caldwell.
Most of the miscues occurred in the second quarter, when Iowa scored 26 unanswered points to assume control of the game.
"A lot of mistakes on both sides of the ball," Caldwell said. "But, hey, we knew that might happen. We'll get better."
It was difficult to know what to expect from the third-year APFL, but there were several plays worthy of the highlight film. Unfortunately for the Aviators, most of those moments came courtesy of Blackhawks' receivers, who made big catches all night.
Led by Yano Jones, who played at Nebraska-Omaha, the Blackhawk receivers continually came up with key plays.
"We couldn't stop them, bottom line," Caldwell said. "It doesn't matter what league you're in, you can't win if you can't stop the other team."
The Aviators looked sharp early, as fullback Idris Elias capped a six-play, 45-yard drive with a seven-yard touchdown run on the team's first possession. But the 6-0 lead wouldn't last long, thanks to the Aviators' miserable second quarter.
A botched snap on a field-goal try gave the Blackhawks the ball on the Aviators' 7, and they scored a touchdown one play later to pull within 7-6 early in the second quarter.
After the Aviators stalled on offense, the Blackhawks took the lead for good on a spectacular 33-yard touchdown reception by Jones, who was falling down and sandwiched between defensive backs Orlandis Williams and James Hanton when he hauled in the ball.
On the Aviators' next possession, Elias fumbled, a mistake the Blackhawks turned into another touchdown, upping their lead to 19-7.
After the kickoff, quarterback Jonathan Beasley missed his target badly on the Aviators' next offensive play, and was intercepted in the end zone. The Blackhawks put a punctuation mark on the big quarter when Kurt Ferguson made a one-handed grab for six-yard touchdown catch, putting the Aviators in a 26-7 hole at halftime.
"Too many mistakes will hurt you in any sport," Beasley said. "We've obviously got to cut down on those."
Beasley completed 9 of 20 passes for 133 yards and two touchdowns. He also added two rushing touchdowns, but he threw two interceptions in the end zone.
"It's tough to throw the ball when you're not getting any protection," Caldwell said.
The good news for the Aviators is that, even with all the mistakes, they made a game of it late, cutting the gap to 40-35 when Carl Richardson caught a short pass and dove into the end zone. But an onside kick attempt failed.
"Practice speed is different from game speed," Beasley said. "It took us the first half to get it going."
Notes -- General manager Mike McCoy said attendance was 2,850.... Williams led Aviator receivers with 72 receiving yards.... Richardson sat out most of the first half with an injured hamstring. The Aviators don't have another home game until May 21.
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Kansas Storm @ Missouri Minutemen
By Dave Skretta
The Capital-Journal
Despite an unfamiliar opponent for the Kansas Koyotes, one thing was very familiar -- a win.
It didn't come easily against league newcomer Nebraska, though. The Koyotes led just 35-33 with 3:40 to go before Chris Coffin hit Justin Wrecke for a 14-yard touchdown to make the score 41-33.
After kicker Bruno Vasconcelos missed the extra point, which would have put the game out of reach, Nebraska marched inside the Kansas 10-yard line with less than a minute remaining.
But quarterback Troy Travis was flushed from the pocket and driven out of bounds at the 5-yard line to preserve the win in the closest game in Koyotes history.
"We knew coming in it wouldn't be easy," Kansas coach Warren Seitz said. "A lot of those guys are Division II players and better, just like we have. It didn't surprise us.
"A lot of these guys haven't been under pressure like this for a while. They had to step up and I thought they did a good job of that."
Coffin threw for 122 yards and five touchdowns for Kansas, which has yet to lose en route to back-to-back league titles. Three of those TDs went to Wrecke, who finished with five catches for 61 yards.
"It was a lot tougher, but anything that's worth something shouldn't be easy," Coffin said. "We'd much rather prove ourselves."
While a newcomer to the American Professional Football League, Nebraska isn't an entirely new team. The Bears have played outdoor football for several seasons.
Still, the adaptation to indoor football caused problems all game long. Receivers dropped several passes and the team committed 16 penalties for more than 100 yards, including several illegal defenses.
"It was first-game jitters and not knowing the rules, things like that," Nebraska coach Don Moore said. "We made a lot of mistakes on our side."
Fletcher Smith caught seven passes for 103 yards and two touchdowns to lead Nebraska. Travis finished with 188 yards passing and 18 yards rushing.
Kansas returns to action on Saturday when it faces another league newcomer, the Wichita Aviators, who are quarterbacked by former Kansas State Wildcat Jonathan Beasley.
Seitz said it will be another stiff challenge, made even tougher by the loss of receiver Travis Stallbaumer, who was carted off the field after hurting his left leg in the second quarter.
"They're going to be a very good team," Seitz said. "But this is what we wanted out of the new teams in our league."
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Aviators defense faulty in loss to Blackhawks
Iowa scores 26 points in the second quarter to spoil Wichita's APFL debut.
BY KOLLEN LONG
The Wichita Eagle
A quick coat of paint should take care of the problem with the Wichita Aviators' artificial turf, which still reads "Detroit Fury" in the end zones and at mid-field.
Coach Carl Caldwell can only hope his team's weaknesses can be fixed so easily.
The Aviators, in their American Professional Football League debut, made too many costly errors and lost 40-35 to the Iowa Blackhawks on Saturday night at the Kansas Coliseum.
The Aviators had only a handful of practices, and their pads didn't arrive until last Saturday, so an uneven performance was expected. But three turnovers, along with a defense that couldn't slow the Blackhawks, weren't acceptable to Caldwell.
Most of the miscues occurred in the second quarter, when Iowa scored 26 unanswered points to assume control of the game.
"A lot of mistakes on both sides of the ball," Caldwell said. "But, hey, we knew that might happen. We'll get better."
It was difficult to know what to expect from the third-year APFL, but there were several plays worthy of the highlight film. Unfortunately for the Aviators, most of those moments came courtesy of Blackhawks' receivers, who made big catches all night.
Led by Yano Jones, who played at Nebraska-Omaha, the Blackhawk receivers continually came up with key plays.
"We couldn't stop them, bottom line," Caldwell said. "It doesn't matter what league you're in, you can't win if you can't stop the other team."
The Aviators looked sharp early, as fullback Idris Elias capped a six-play, 45-yard drive with a seven-yard touchdown run on the team's first possession. But the 6-0 lead wouldn't last long, thanks to the Aviators' miserable second quarter.
A botched snap on a field-goal try gave the Blackhawks the ball on the Aviators' 7, and they scored a touchdown one play later to pull within 7-6 early in the second quarter.
After the Aviators stalled on offense, the Blackhawks took the lead for good on a spectacular 33-yard touchdown reception by Jones, who was falling down and sandwiched between defensive backs Orlandis Williams and James Hanton when he hauled in the ball.
On the Aviators' next possession, Elias fumbled, a mistake the Blackhawks turned into another touchdown, upping their lead to 19-7.
After the kickoff, quarterback Jonathan Beasley missed his target badly on the Aviators' next offensive play, and was intercepted in the end zone. The Blackhawks put a punctuation mark on the big quarter when Kurt Ferguson made a one-handed grab for six-yard touchdown catch, putting the Aviators in a 26-7 hole at halftime.
"Too many mistakes will hurt you in any sport," Beasley said. "We've obviously got to cut down on those."
Beasley completed 9 of 20 passes for 133 yards and two touchdowns. He also added two rushing touchdowns, but he threw two interceptions in the end zone.
"It's tough to throw the ball when you're not getting any protection," Caldwell said.
The good news for the Aviators is that, even with all the mistakes, they made a game of it late, cutting the gap to 40-35 when Carl Richardson caught a short pass and dove into the end zone. But an onside kick attempt failed.
"Practice speed is different from game speed," Beasley said. "It took us the first half to get it going."
Notes -- General manager Mike McCoy said attendance was 2,850.... Williams led Aviator receivers with 72 receiving yards.... Richardson sat out most of the first half with an injured hamstring. The Aviators don't have another home game until May 21.
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Kansas Storm @ Missouri Minutemen