Bloomington "Edges" out win over Lehigh Valley Steelhawks 36-34
March 24, 2012 - Indoor Football League (IFL)
Bloomington Edge News Release
Bloomington, IL - The Bloomington Edge, presented by Heller Stores, beat the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks 36-34 and move to 4-1 on the year. It was exciting to the end and filled with tons of drama. Dusty Burk had 18 completions on 38 attempts and threw for 162 yards and one touchdown. Andre Raymond rushed for 27 yards and 4 touchdowns. Charles Dowdell had 57 receiving yards while David Brown caught a touchdown pass. Wendell Brown had 2 interceptions and a forced fumble.
Edge Assistant Coach Ted Schmitz said the game could be a shootout. It looked that way at the start as Lehigh Valley threw a 37 yard touchdown pass on the very first play of the game. Dusty Burk was intercepted on the next series and the Edge missed a field goal when they got the ball back. The Steelhawks also missed a field goal but led 7-0 after the first quarter.
The Edge picked things up in the 2nd quarter as they got a quick 8 yard touchdown reception by David Brown. Later in the quarter Pete Christofilakos kicked a 17 yard field goal. Wendell Brown had 2 interceptions on defense. Lehigh Valley kicked a 33 yard field goal with less than a second left to tie the game 10-10 at halftime.
It started looking like that shootout Coach Schmitz was talking about as the game progressed. The Steelhawks took a slim lead with a 23 yard field goal. Later in the quarter the Edge came back with an Andre Raymond 1 yard rush touchdown but they missed the extra point. On the kickoff the Steelhawks scored a touchdown to take the lead back. Lehigh Valley led 20-16 at the end of the 3rd.
To start the 4th quarter Andre Raymond had another 1 yard rush touchdown to put the Edge back on top. With under 5:00 to go Lehigh Valley scored a rush touchdown as the lead changed hands again. The Edge fumbled the ball on a kickoff return but Wendell Brown forced a fumble to get the ball back. On that Drive Dusty Burk threw a 30 yard pass to set up an Andre Raymond 2 yard touchdown rush. But within seconds the Steelhawks fired a touchdown pass of their own to take a four point lead with 0:52 to go in the game.
The last 0:30 of the game was tension filled to the end. The Edge failed to convert on 4th down but Lehigh Valley holding penalty resulted in a 1st down. On what seemed to be the final play of the game, Burk threw over John Cooper, seemingly ending the game. But Lehigh Valley was called for pass interference and the Edge got one last shot with 0:02 left. Andre Raymond rushed for a touchdown to win it at the buzzer.
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Indoor Football League Stories from March 24, 2012
- Bloomington "Edges" out win over Lehigh Valley Steelhawks 36-34 - Bloomington Edge
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