Corpus Squeaks by Raiders at Home
May 8, 2013 - Ultimate Indoor Football League (UIFL)
Lakeland Raiders News Release
The Lakeland Raiders' long-awaited rematch against the Corpus Christi Fury started out on a clunky note. After kicker Jesus "Jesse" Cortez narrowly missed an UNO on the opening kickoff the two teams combined for four different fouls on the first three plays of the game. The final play of that yellow flag-dominated drive was a 40 TD bomb from Fury QB Robert Kent to WR Kenyada Tatum. The two connected again for the 2 point conversion and the Raiders were in an early 8-0 hole.
It took exactly one play - the first penalty-free play of the game - for the Raiders to get right back in it. Raiders QB Chris Walley got the defense all turned around and tossed a 25 yard strike to Roderick Jefferson for the touchdown and the game was 8-7. Unfortunately, that was as close as the Raiders would come the rest of the night. The Fury returned the subsequent kickoff for a touchdown.
The defense showed flashes of excellence. Twice they limited the damage done by the potent Fury offense with interceptions in the end zone (one by Reggie Lewis and the other returned for a coast-to-coast TD by DeAngelo Woodie), but the Fury maintained the upper hand.
After the Lewis interception, the Raiders took over at their own 1 yard line the start of the 2nd quarter down by 15 and put together the longest drive in Raiders history, quite possibly in UIFL history. The 49 yard touchdown drive ate up an unprecedented 11 minutes and 35 seconds and brought the home team to within a touchdown of Corpus Christi.
The two teams battled back and forth, matching high-powered offense and stone wall defense all night. In the end, the Fury cemented their spot atop the UIFL standings by coming away with a 50-36 victory at Jenkins Arena in Lakeland.
The Raiders have a much needed bye week to recover from the physical toll the game took on the players. "(QB) Chris (Walley) is pretty beat up," said Coach Mike Mink after the game. "Their defensive line put a lot of heat on him. In the game he was feeling it."
Football is a game of inches and that truism was on full display Saturday night. The game was much closer than the 14 point differential would indicate.
As Coach Mink put it, "One play here, one stop there and it's a different ball game."
This loss was a tough one in terms of playoff seeding implications.
"We're just going to try to finish out the next home game and we'll evaluate and go from there," Mink commented. The Raiders have one regular season game remaining, a home tilt against the Missouri Monsters on May 18th. After that the playoffs should come down to a three team race between the Raiders, the Fury, and the Florida Tarpons. You can still purchase tickets for the final home game by calling 1-855-Raider1.
Ultimate Indoor Football League Stories from May 8, 2013
- Corpus Squeaks by Raiders at Home - Lakeland Raiders
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