Fever Ready for Second Game of 2006
Published on March 29, 2006 under National Indoor Football League (NIFL)
Tri-Cities Fever News Release
Kennewick , WA - 03/29/06. After escaping with a close victory over rival Billings 44-41, the Fever hit the road this week to face the always tough Wyoming Cavalry in Casper on Friday, March 31.
This is a Pacific Conference, out of Division match-up between the two teams. The Fever won two out of three with Wyoming last season, including a thrilling first round playoff victory at Casper that ended the Cavalry's season. The Cavalry are currently sitting at 1-1 with a season opening loss to Billings and an impressive 86-30 victory over Big Sky Thunder ( Bozeman, MT) last week.
Just as Billings showed last week, Wyoming also has some former all-stars from around the NIFL. Receivers Jason Quinn and Cory Grow, defensive back Jerry Jones and running back Anthony Simmons all went to Wyoming from the Everett Hawks. Include long time NIFL receiver Mike Montoya with Quinn and Grow and the Cavalry look more like the Green Beret's at the receiver position. "They definitely have some talent at the receiver position," said Fever head coach Dan Whitsett. "We will have our hands more than full with them all night. However, we have DB's that will be up for the task and we have a lot of different looks to throw at them. Should be a great battle."
At quarterback Wyoming has a newcomer to the NIFL in Frank Borba. He may be new to the NIFL, but he is not new to the Indoor game. "He has some experience in the Indoor game," said Whitsett. "When he has time to find receivers he can definitely make some things happen. He is clearly dangerous when he has time to throw the football."
Defensively the Cavalry have a new coach and potentially a new look. According to the Casper Star Tribune on Wednesday, defensive coordinator Rodney Swanigan was fired just before their game last week with Big Sky Thunder. A new defensive coordinator had not been named at the time of the story.
The Fever are trying to "clean up" some things on both sides of the ball according to Whitsett. "We have a lot of room for improvement on both sides of the ball. I think we played better defensively than offensively and I am not okay with that. We need both sides to get better, but the offense has the largest distance to travel right now."
Emery Beckles led the Fever in tackles against Billings and played blanket coverage in his pass defense. It wasn't just Beckles as Billings quarterback Chris Dixon, who scorched the Wyoming secondary for 188 yards and five touchdowns the week before, rarely found his receivers open down field against the Fever. He completed just 10 passes and was intercepted by Fever defensive Back Elton Seals. "Our secondary played pretty well," said Whitsett. "With the guys we have back there we can do so many different things. We changed things up with them all night long and we never allowed Dixon to get into a rythym."
Game time for Wyoming is 7:05 p.m. (CST), 6:05 p.m. (Pacific) Friday night in Casper. To listen to the game live tune in to KONA 610 AM or to listen live on the web go to www.konaradio.com.
National Indoor Football League Stories from March 29, 2006
- NIFL week four preview - NIFL
- Fever Ready for Second Game of 2006 - Tri-Cities Fever
- Rage Head Into Bye Week Atop Atlantic North Division of the NIFL - RiverCity Rage
- NIFL Phantoms Owner May Hit the Gridiron - Palm Beach Phantoms
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