Fever Looks to Fine Tune Things During Bye Weeks
Published on March 21, 2016 under Indoor Football League (IFL)
Tri-Cities Fever News Release
The Tri-Cities Fever still have nearly two weeks remaining before returning to the field Friday, April 1 against the Colorado Crush.
In that time, first-year coach Ryan Lingenfelder promised some changes to the roster and some extra work to clean up some mistakes that have hurt the Fever in its 1-3 start to the season.
Tri-Cities (1-3) has been competitive in all four of its games, but struggles in the fourth quarter had played a key role in the slow start to the season.
"We need to find a way to close out games," Lingenfelder said. "We are making mistakes that can't happen."
The Fever has had the lead in the fourth quarter of three of its four games - one it won, the other two it lost. In the other, the Fever were tied with under 12 minutes left before losing by nine.
"We need to find a way to close out games," said linebacker Brandon Wilson after the Fever's recent loss to Cedar Rapids.
The Fever has only been outscored 64-50 combined in the fourth quarter on the season, but it seems like untimely mistakes have been the undoing.
In the Fever's lone win against Billings, it had a 40-21 lead with 11:59 remaining in the game. The Wolves then scored 19 straight points to take 41-40 lead with 19 seconds left. But a good return by Dee Maggitt Jr. and two Wolves' penalties led to a Pat McCain 3-yard touchdown with 8 seconds left in the game to save Tri-Cities.
In its most recent game, the Fever could not bottle up that same late-game magic. The Fever led the entire game before Cedar Rapids scored with 5:15 left in the game to take a 37-34 advantage. The Fever was then flagged for a holding call in the end zone in the final two minutes that all but ended a come back effort.
"Those are the types of mistakes we need to eliminate," Lingenfelder said.
In the season opener, the Fever tied the game at 39 after trailing most of the game, only to be outscored 21-12 over the final 10 minutes. The following week, the Fever could not hold a lead against defending conference champion Nebraska and lost the game on a missed extra point with 1:22 left in the game.
"We are putting ourselves in a position to win, we just have to get over that hump," said offensive lineman Rodrick Gladney.
NOTES: The Fever released running backs Dasean Martin and Jojo Snell last week, along with Jerome Lewis (receiver), Dontavais Johnson (defensive back), and Marvin Martin Jr. (defensive line) last week... The Sioux Falls Storm, the five-time defending IFL champions, are the lone undefeated team in the league.
Indoor Football League Stories from March 21, 2016
- Fever Looks to Fine Tune Things During Bye Weeks - Tri-Cities Fever
- Storm Survives Clash with Crush - Sioux Falls Storm
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