Bus ride calls make Fever rise in NIFL
Published on July 26, 2005 under National Indoor Football League (NIFL)
Tri-Cities Fever News Release
KENNEWICK, Wash. - Bus rides in the National Indoor Football League can get pretty boring and long, especially if you have lost a game and are headed home.
It wasn't such a bad trip back to Kennewick, Washington, for Dan Whitsett on April 7 after losing to the Wyoming Cavalry in Casper. It was a time for the 33-year-old to reflect on what the Tri-Cities Fever football team would have to do in the next couple of weeks.
"We had gone to Casper with one quarterback (Tyler Thomas) who hadn't taken a snap in any previous game," said Fever head coach Whitsett. "He broke his wrist during the game and went ahead and played.
Little did Whitsett know he would find himself and the Fever (12-5) 13 games later in Indoor Bowl V Saturday against the upstart Rome (Ga.) Renegades (10-7).
WHITSETT REBUILDS TEAM
"I thought, âWe survived this one,' (losing 36-24) and that's about all we could do," he remembered as the bus would travel more than 650 miles back to the Tri-Cities which consists of Kennewick, Pasco and Richland, Washington, along the Columbia River. "What I wanted to do is get some players who wanted to play for us.
"There were some veterans on the team at the time that were just a cancer to the team," said Whitsett as he set out to call some new faces. "Basically, I had to rebuild this team."
After making calls for most of the trip, the aspiring "interim coach" as he thought he was then, had secured the veteran quarterback Doug Coleman, defensive back Sullivan Beard, veteran linebacker Ron Childs and defensive lineman Garrett Smith. "They were all sitting around; hadn't had a call from any team," Whitsett said. "It was just amazing." He also picked up Kevin Beard from the Miami Morays.
WONG, BEARD, CHILDS, SMITH ADDED
Another pickup was receiver Sonte Wong, the standout from Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon, who had been with the Dayton Warbirds. "We needed him because Mike Rigell had gone down to an injury," he said. Rigell was the team's leading receiver during the regular season with 66 catches for 782 yards and 19 touchdowns.
Wong played in one regular season game but had all three playoff games under his belt and is second only to Kevin Heard in post-season receiving with 22 catches for 166 yards and four scores. Heard, also a late edition has 13 grabs for 203 yards and four TDs.
"I really didn't expect to keep the head post (coaching job) after the Wyoming game," Whitsett said, "but, I took the job on as if I was the new coach. I felt connected to the players and had been with the team since its inception from the tryout camp.
TURNS SCOUTING INTO PLUS
"I was close to them (the players) as I was on the bench during the first few games," said Whitsett who has scouted for the NIFL since 2001 and currently is also the head football and baseball coach at Pasco's Tri-Cities Prep High School. "I just did not want to let the players who were here down."
From day one, Whitsett had wanted a nose guard who would be a leader. He found that in Smith. In just three regular-season games, Smith had three sacks and in three playoff contests had 10 total tackles, 2.5 of those for lost yardage. "I put the word out for a playmaker; someone solid and we came up with Garrett who has been biggest difference on defense."
Whitsett said he knew with four games to go in the season he was close to being where he wanted the team to be. It's the old adage that the team peaked at the right time. "The pieces came together."
FEVER WINS SEVEN IN ROW
The Fever won seven in a row, but had previously lost to the undefeated Everett Hawks twice, before the last game of the season at Cincinnati, a team that made it to the finals of the Atlantic Conference, but lost to the Fever's Saturday opponent, the Rome Renegades.
"Sure we were disappointed because we didn't play well," said Whitsett who was hoping his team could go into the playoffs on an eight-game run. "We didn't travel well that game; got to bed late at night and things just didn't go well. I think that was the worst game in the last three years for Doug (Coleman) and we had four passes intercepted and a fumble returned for a touchdown."
Little did the native of Hermiston, Oregon, know that his club would make one of the most remarkable playoff runs to the finals in all of professional football.
After the Wyoming game, the Fever had two consecutive undefeated teams in post-season play. First came the Everett Hawks at 15-0. Leading by 21-0 to start the game, the eastern Washington visitors found themselves down to the last play of the game.
POST-SEASON RUN PHENOMENAL
"We even went a day early to Seattle and I felt comfortable getting there to get the players the maximum amount of rest," the head mentor said. "It was such a big game and we had 400 of our own fans make the trip. I felt we were very well prepared and we found some early holes in the secondary that helped us to that lead."
It came down to a 41-yard field goal and Drew Dunning out of Washington State drilled it as time ran out. It was an exuberant moment and Whitsett said you would have thought we had won the championship right then and there.
The team had one more road hurdle to get over and that was at the Odessa Roughnecks, a Texas bunch that was 16-0, and the odds on favorite from the beginning to win it all in the NIFL.
With no air conditioning in the Ector County Coliseum, temperatures outside the Fever locker room at 97 degrees and a rabid, raucous crowd that later embarrassed itself by throwing bottles at the Tri-Cities players, this was no walk, even in Central Park at 3 a.m.
TANK NEAR EMPTY IN ODESSA
"I'll tell you, in the end our tank was near empty but we had something left because of our dedication," said Whitsett of a team racked with cramps, exhaustion and darn near heat stroke. In fact, Coleman did pass out in the locker room after the game, but was immediately attended to by the medical staff.
"They made it as uncomfortable as they could for us but we were physically and mentally strong." The Fever held on for a 41-39 win and it was home with the Pacific Conference championship and a chance for the NIFL title.
From a non-traveling fourth assistant to head coach in a matter of days, Whitsett has proven that with the right ingredients you can forge the right chemistry and make something happen in the indoor game.
"We've held together pretty good and I think I got the right players for the system," he said.
Now, the ânobodies' have become a pretty good contingent who has a chance to make history Saturday in the NIFL.
National Indoor Football League Stories from July 26, 2005
- Bus ride calls make Fever rise in NIFL - Tri-Cities Fever
- Come out and watch your Atlantic Conference Champs prepare for Indoor Bowl V - Rome Renegades
- Renegades' motivation late, but early enough - Rome Renegades
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