Edge Travel to Sioux City
March 18, 2016 - Champions Indoor Football (CIF)
Bloomington Edge News Release
Bloomington, Illinois - The Bloomington Edge will be hitting the road this week for their first away game against the defending conference champs the Sioux City Bandits. The game is set to take place Saturday at Tyson Events Center at 7 p.m.
The Edge (0-1) had a rough, but competitive season opener when they fell to the Omaha Beef 34-31 at home. Newly signed QB Caleb Holbrook passed for 119 yards on 10 of 23 pass attempts after replacing starter Drew Frendrich. While the game was close up until the final minutes, there were several missed scoring opportunities at crucial moments throughout the game.
"The bye week has been a good thing and a bad thing," said Coach Wendell Covert II, "The team was eager to get back on the field and play after a tough home loss, but these two weeks have been great to break in the new QB, Holbrook and get him more accustomed to the offense and to tighten up the offensive line."
The Edge have added some new offensive linemen to give Holbrook more time to get passes off smoothly to the veteran receivers. They have also replaced former kicker Coy Nuzzo with local kicker Andrew Larson after some costly missed extra points in game one.
"We've been working hard the past two weeks in practice, " Said Holbrook (QB)," I have been able to get used to the offense and the receivers and we are really starting to pull things together as a team." Holbrook. "The veterans like Marcus and D.C. have been great to work with. As a team we have made a complete 360 from where we were game one. This could be a great statement game for us."
The Bandits are coming back from a close road loss to a first year franchise in the Mesquite Marshalls (26-27). They also have a QB new to arena football, Anthony Graham, who will look to improve on his last game where he only completed 9 passes on 22 attempts with 2 interceptions. The Bandits are a very experienced team and threats such as RB Johnny Bentley, who is known for leading the team in rushing yards, should keep the Edge defensive line on their toes.
The Sioux City Bandits are the leagues reigning champs and are currently leading the northern conference with their 2-1 record thus far. They have not yet lost at home and the Bandits defense held the Omaha Beef to only 250 yards when they played against them at home a few weeks ago. John Smith of the Bandits defense was honored as one of the CIF Defensive Players of the Week this past week.
"This game will really show us how we measure up," said Darrlynn Dunn," a win against the Bandits would give us great momentum going into the game against Chicago."
The Edge will be on the road the next two weeks, starting at UIC next week to play the Chicago Eagles (1-1) before returning home to the red turf at U.S. Cellular Coliseum to host the Mesquite Marshalls on April 16th at 7 p.m. Edge fans can watch some of the away action via livestream by going to bloomingtonedge.net and hitting the Eversport link.
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Champions Indoor Football Stories from March 18, 2016
- Edge Travel to Sioux City - Bloomington Edge
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