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Erie Explosion Look to Tackle Breast Cancer this Saturday

June 2, 2011 - Southern Indoor Football League (SIFL)
Erie Explosion News Release


(Erie, PA) - The Erie Explosion and its fans will team up this Saturday night at the Tullio Arena to take on two opponents. Returning to its home turf, the Explosion will conclude its regular season by playing host to the Harrisburg Stampede, while the Erie Explosion team, organization, and fans will be coming together to join the Fight Against Breast Cancer along with the American Cancer Society. The Erie Explosion will be wearing new jerseys made just for this special event, and all jerseys will be auctioned and sold off throughout the night with the net proceeds going to the American Cancer Society to help fund their important work in education and advocacy, and supporting medical research to eradicate breast cancer once and for all. This is the last scheduled home game of the season, and the Explosion strongly encourage all Erie football fans to come to the Tullio to support both the team, in its quest for a championship, and the important work of the American Cancer Society. Opening kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 PM and tickets are available at the Tullio Arena box office and through all Ticketmaster outlets.

Erie comes into the weekend with an 8-3 record and a one-game lead in the SIFL's Northeast division despite losing last week on the road to the Trenton Steel, and a victory for Erie would clinch the division title outright. Harrisburg enters the contest with a 2-8 record, but one of its wins was a hard-fought comeback victory over the Explosion in Harrisburg five weeks ago. This is the fourth meeting of the season between the two in-state rivals, with Erie having won two of the first three games.

Back on March 20 in the season opener played in Harrisburg, it was the Explosion defense that dominated, not allowing a touchdown until the third quarter, recording six sacks, three interceptions, three turnovers on downs, and a safety, in a 46-25 road victory for Erie. When the Explosion hosted the Stampede on April 15, Erie jumped out to a 33-0 first-quarter lead with the help of its aggressive defense, and never stopped scoring, on the way to a record-setting 89-35 rout. Explosion quarterback Adam DiMichele threw ten touchdown passes, wide receiver Kevin Concepcion scored five times, including four times in the first quarter alone, defensive back Eric Wicks recorded three interceptions, and defensive back Chris Johnson recovered two fumbles, returning one for a touchdown.

In the third meeting, played in Harrisburg, Erie had a chance to redeem itself despite having given up a 24-point fourth quarter lead, but a potential game-winning 26-yard field goal attempt by Carlos Ojeda in the last few seconds was missed, resulting in a disappointing 41-40 road loss to the hometown Stampede. Erie outgained Harrisburg by a considerable margin but committed several particularly untimely turnovers, and the Stampede took advantage of an impressive performance by its defense in the second half, and kicker J.R. Cipra who converted three field goal attempts and added three unos.

"Obviously we were very disappointed last week after losing at Trenton. Our defense made very few stops which put a lot of pressure on our offense to score on every possession. We're capable of doing that as we've seen in several games, but we don't want to put ourselves in the position of having to count on that, the margin for error is too small. Harrisburg got our attention after the last time we met, we struggled on offense to start that game, but we kept pounding away and eventually took a good lead, but then for some reason, we stopped executing and they kept playing, I give them credit. But that was a game we clearly gave away, they didn't win. In this game, we need to get a few defensive stops on downs or turnovers, and we have to execute for four full quarters. The margin on the scoreboard doesn't matter in indoor football until the game is over, and anybody in this league can come back from deficits if you don't watch carefully. We embarrassed them the last time we met in Erie and I fully expect we'll get their best shot on Saturday night, but we'll definitely be ready for it. I'm looking forward to seeing our great fans at the Tullio Arena this weekend and our guys are happy to be participating in a great cause, helping to fight cancer. I hope we sell the place out." commented Explosion head coach Shawn Liotta.

Erie's offense is led by quarterback DiMichele who has completed 54.5% of his passes for 2,891 yards and 82 touchdowns, tops in the SIFL by a wide margin, with only seven interceptions in 11 games. Three different Explosion wide receivers who are expected to see action this weekend have scored double-digit touchdowns on the season, led by Concepcion with 103 receptions, 1,335 yards, and 42 touchdown catches, all of which are among the all-time best marks in indoor football history. Ernest Jackson has 11 touchdown receptions, and Tirone Morris has scored 22 times, including two kickoff returns for touchdowns. Defensive back Wicks leads the Explosion defense in tackles and is among the league leaders in interceptions, with nine, Chris Johnson has contributed four picks and two fumble recoveries returned for touchdowns, linebacker Brenton Brady, who is questionable for this game after undergoing major dental work, leads the team with 9.5 sacks, and defensive lineman Troy Blackwell is next with 7.5 sacks. Erie is currently ranked in the top four in the SIFL in scoring offense, passing yardage, rush defense, passing offense, total defense, first downs, turnover margin, and sacks.

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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