Fever take NIFL title
Published on August 1, 2005 under National Indoor Football League (NIFL)
RiverCity Rage News Release
The Tri-Cities Fever of the NIFL are the new champions for 2005 and River City Rage Head Football Coach Mike Wyatt on Monday morning summed up the feelings of the entire Rage organization when he said "I have nothing but the greatest respect for what they were able to achieve this season. To overcome some early season problems, turn things around, put together a seven game win streak towards the end of the regular season, and then defeat two previously undefeated teams on the road in the playoffs, well, I know from experience, that takes some doing. They deserve to be champions." Then with a smile, he mused, "hey, they even managed to beat us in the forth game of the season up at their place. So, they had something going on."
That âsomething' got up and moving for The Fever after a 67-62 victory over The Rage on April 16th in Kennewick, Washington. It was the first game for new Head Coach Dan Whitsett and the first for new Fever quarterback Doug Coleman, a NIFL veteran. With an even record of 2-2 at that point, Tri-Cities then won 7 of it's next 10 regular season games to finish the regular season with a mark of 9-5.
Saturday night's sell-out crowd at the Three Rivers Coliseum saw The Fever win the coveted NIFL Indoor Bowl trophy by defeating the Rome Renagades 47- 31. With just under 5 minutes to play, on 3rd and 13 from their own 2 yard line, Fever QB Coleman hit wide receiver Donte Wong with a pass over the middle of the field, good for a 48 yard touchdown and a 16 point lead that held up for the rest of the game.
The Renagades entered the playoffs with a season record of 7-7, but came on strong to defeat Lakeland and Montgomery before upsetting the Cincinnati Marshals at the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincy and win the Atlantic Conference crown. But The Tri-Cities Fever rush to the title was too much for the Rome team to overcome and so, it's congratulations and helmets held high to the Tri-Cities Fever, the first Pacific Division team to win the National Indoor Football League Championship!
TRIO TABBED TO REPRESENT RAGE AT LEAGUE ALL STAR GAME
The River City Rage will be well represented in the annual NIFL All-Star game, slated for Saturday night in Odessa, Texas. The Odessa Roughnecks will play a contingent of All-Stars from both the Atlantic and Pacific divisions of the NIFL.
Rage Head Football Coach Mike Wyatt has been selected to be one of two league coaches that will head up the All-Star roster. The other is Everett Hawks Head Coach Dan Maciejczak, who guided his Pacific Division team to an undefeated 14-0 mark in the regular season. Wyatt led the River City Rage to a regular season mark of 10-4 on the year and saw his team crowned Atlantic East Champions. Coach Wyatt completed the first year of a three year contract with GST Sports, Inc. the new Rage ownership group headed up by Majority Owners Tye Elliott and Scott Wilson, and says the selection is "quite an honor and certainly an opportunity to see and coach some of the top players in our league, plus it gives me a chance to make comparisons with my own guys and affords a bit of an evaluation process, as well."
In two seasons as Head Football Coach of the St. Louis franchise, Wyatt has compiled a regular season record of 19 wins against only 9 defeats, led his team to the playoffs both seasons, been named Atlantic Conference Coach of the Year (2004) and named an All-Star Coach in 2005.
Rage wide receiver Scott Pingel is an NIFL All-Star selection for the third consecutive year. Pingel over 15 games this year lead the team in receptions with an even 100 for 2005, good for 957 yards, an average of 9.6 yards per catch and 63.8 yards per game, He also scored 26 touchdowns and tied for the team lead with 170 total points. Rage running back Sha-Ron Edwards also registered 170 for the team in 2005.
Due to his coaching commitments at CBC High School, Pingel has opted not to attend the game this weekend. But he may have another option to soon consider. Pingel has been invited to an invitation only four day long tryout with the San Jose Sabercats of the Arena League.
On defense for the 2005 NIFL All-Stars will be big number 99 of the River City Rage. Defensive End Bruce Blue will play in his first All-Star game on Saturday, having earned that honor by posting some impressive numbers in 15 Rage games.
Blue accounted for 40 solo tackles this year, assisted on 44 others and registered 12 Sacks on opposing quarterbacks. He was responsible for 2 forced fumbles, had one fumble return for 36 yards and recorded one interception.
While All-Star teams have been selected in each of the previous four NIFL seasons, this year marks the first time an actual game will be played. The festivities of what promises to be an exciting weekend hosted by Odessa will begin with a skills competition on Friday afternoon. Players from both conferences will test their abilities in throwing, receiving and various other facets of the game, including an obstacle course. The NIFL All-Stars banquet will be Friday evening and what shapes up to be an exciting season ending football game will be played on Saturday night at the Ector County Coliseum. Kick-off is slated for 7:11 pm.
National Indoor Football League Stories from August 1, 2005
- Fever take NIFL title - RiverCity Rage
- ThunderBolts coach Hagin resigns - Lakeland ThunderBolts
- Roughnecks team up with Sonic for All-Star game and charity - West Texas Roughnecks
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