Erie Explosion Win SIFL Northeast Division Title

June 6, 2011 - Southern Indoor Football League (SIFL)
Erie Explosion News Release


(Erie, PA) - The Erie Explosion concluded its regular season with a dominating 71-32 victory over the Harrisburg Stampede at the Tullio Arena on Saturday night to clinch the SIFL's Northern division title. With the win, the Explosion improved its season record to 9-3 but will not know the site for its first-round playoff game until after next Saturday.

Erie appears headed to a first-round matchup against the Albany (GA) Panthers although there are some discussions taking place within the SIFL regarding the upcoming playoff format. If the current format is left unchanged, Albany will host Erie if the Panthers win their game next weekend against Alabama. If Albany loses, the Explosion will host the first round game at the Tullio Arena on June 18.

On Saturday night, Erie's quick-strike offense was on display as it scored eight times on drives of one or two plays. Quarterback Adam DiMichele threw only 23 passes, but completed 15 of them for 356 yards and nine touchdowns with no interceptions. On the season, DiMichele has completed 55% of his passes for 3,247 yards and 91 touchdowns against only seven interceptions in 12 games.

Kevin Concepcion led the Explosion receivers with seven receptions for 167 yards and four more touchdowns, adding to the most productive campaign of any wide receiver in indoor football history as in his 12 games, he has recorded 110 receptions for 1,502 yards and 47 touchdowns, 46 through the air. Wide receiver Tirone Morris added three touchdowns among his four receptions, and Ernest Jackson scored twice accounting for the rest of the Erie passing scores. Morris has now scored 25 times on the year, including 22 receiving, one rushing, and two on kickoff returns.

The Erie defense spent a significant amount of time on the field due to the offense scoring so quickly, but they held the Stampede to just 19 of 49 passes completed, recorded two interceptions, one apiece by DB Lenny Wicks and LB Roosevelt Benjamin, and did not allow a single successful fourth-down conversion by Harrisburg in four tries.

Erie jumped out to a quick 22-1 lead early in the second quarter after three scores on drives of 1-2 plays, and the Stampede never got closer than 11 points down, eventually pulling with 29-18 on a 21-yard field goal in the last minute of the first half. However, once again, the Explosion needed just one play to answer, a 30-yard pass to Jackson from DiMichele to extend Erie's lead to 36-18 at halftime. Harrisburg scored on its first possession of the third quarter to pull within 37-25 but the Explosion took the game over from there, scoring the next 34 points unanswered to win the matchup decisively and clinch the division title in front of 2,487 loud enthusiastic fans at the Tullio.



Southern Indoor Football League Stories from June 6, 2011


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