Fever vs Danger in Early Season Matchup
February 26, 2016 - Indoor Football League (IFL)
Tri-Cities Fever News Release
The Tri-Cities Fever and the Nebraska Danger have been the measuring stick in the Intense Conference for the past five seasons. The Fever owned the conference championship in 2011 and 2012, while the Danger have won the past three conference championships. Most recently, the Danger knocked off the Fever in last year's conference title game.
The two teams will look to get the early edge in the race for the conference title this season when they meet Saturday night in Grand Island, Neb.
"This is a big test for us early," said Fever coach Ryan Lingenfelder.
The Fever (0-1) is coming off a 60-51 loss to Spokane in its season opener last Saturday night at the Toyota Center. Nebraska on the other hand will be playing its first game of 2016.
The last time these two teams met, the Danger routed the Fever 86-43 in the playoffs to advance to its third straight championship game. The Danger's playoff win atoned for an earlier-season loss to the Fever.
In order for Tri-Cities to pick up its first win of the season, Lingenfelder says his rookies need to clean up some mistakes and it cannot afford to get off to a slow start like it did against the Empire last week.
Tri-Cities fumbled the ball away on its first two possessions against the Empire and fell in a deep 27-10 hole in the first half. The positive was, Tri-Cities rallied in the second half behind its defense to even the game at 39 early in the fourth quarter. But some late mistakes and some key plays by the Empire in the final 6 minutes proved costly.
"There is a lot to look forward to," said receiver Dejuan Miller after the loss. "We just need to put some of the mistakes behind us."
Some of the mistakes were attributed to the first-game jitters and the fact the Fever was playing Spokane its natural rival in the north for the first time since 2009. Tri-Cities was also facing its former coach Adam Shackleford.
"There is always a lot of emotion in games like this," Shackleford said. "This was a battle."
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Indoor Football League Stories from February 26, 2016
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- Titans Fall to Reigning IFL Champion Storm in Close Matchup - Cedar Rapids River Kings
- Fever vs Danger in Early Season Matchup - Tri-Cities Fever
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