Fever Falls at Home to Green Bay
June 1, 2016 - Indoor Football League (IFL)
Tri-Cities Fever News Release
The Tri-Cities Fever could not overcome a second-quarter scoring drought and fell 63-39 to the Green Bay Blizzard on Saturday night at the Toyota Center.
It is the Fever's sixth straight loss as its playoff hopes are fading. At 3-10, Tri-Cities is two games behind Nebraska (5-8) with three games left in the regular season. The Danger has also lost six straight games after at 44-20 loss to Wichita Falls on Friday night.
"I don't know what it is," said Fever quarterback Hunter Wanket. "Whether we make the playoffs or not, we just need to show some personal pride. I know I don't want the season to end this way."
The Fever has a bye week before heading to Green Bay for a rematch on Friday, June 10.
The Fever got off to another quick start as Rob Brown returned the opening kickoff 52 yards for a touchdown as the Fever grabbed a 7-0 lead. It was Brown's third kickoff return for a touchdown on the season.
The Fever then held a 14-7 lead after a Dejuan Miller 10-yard touchdown catch on a pass from Wanket with 38 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
But then a scoring drought and some miscues. Green Bay (4-9) reeled off 33 straight points and held a 40-14 advantage after the first offensive play of the third quarter.
"It's just the small things," Austin Alber said. "We need to play a little harder. We know things are going to go our way sometimes, we just need to stay focused and play the next play.:
After the touchdown by the Blizzard to open the third quarter, the Fever outscored Green Bay 25-18 the rest of the way.
"It's hard right now," defensive lineman Dame Ndiaye said. "We're just in a little slump right now and we can't recover."
Wanket got the start and went 16-31 passing for 148 yards and four touchdowns. He did throw three interceptions. Pat McCain started the second half at quarterback and went 1-for-4 passing for 9 yards before leaving with an injury on his first series.
Akeem Foster led the Fever with six catches for 57 yards. Chris Gant had five catches for 52 yards and two touchdowns.
Green Bay quarterback Matt Behrendt completed 14 of 27 passes for 282 yards and five touchdowns. He also ran for 43 yards and three more touchdowns.
"I felt like Coach L (Lingenfielder), has a good game plan and puts us in the right position, we just need to execute," Wanket said.
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