Freedom Hold off Thunder 42-38

by Randy Snow
Published on May 25, 2008 under Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL)
Fort Wayne Freedom


The Fort Wayne Freedom were shut out in the fourth quarter Saturday night, but they still managed to come away with a 42-38 win in their game against the Muskegon Thunder. Fort Wayne improved its record to 4-6 while the Thunder record fell to 5-5.

The Freedom has been making headlines the past several weeks for all the wrong reasons including a change in ownership, a change at head coach and a quarterback who refused to play in a game. But none of that mattered last night to players and fans as they celebrated a victory on the field after the game.

"Winning fixes everything, doesn't it?" said new Freedom head coach Matt Land. "It's good to win in front of the home fans and give them what they've been wanting."

This was Land's second game as coach of the team this season. He replaced fired head coach Willie Davis prior to last week's game at Chicago. But Land is no stranger to indoor football. He previously coached the Freedom in 2005 when the team was a member of United Indoor Football. He compiled a 14-2 regular season record and was named UIF Coach of the Year.

In the game Saturday night, Muskegon scored first and took an early 6-0 lead, but Fort Wayne scored 21 unanswered points and held a 28-12 halftime lead. The Freedom led 42-18 at the end of the third quarter, and that's when Muskegon began to make a comeback. The Thunder defense kept the Freedom out of the end zone in the final quarter and scored twice in the final minute of play thanks to touchdown catches by Richard Gills and Preston Garris. An onside kick attempt by Muskegon with just nine second to go in the game was recovered by the Freedom, who ran out the clock to preserve the win.

On the other side of the field, Thunder head coach Shane Fairfield is concerned about the way his team has been playing in recent weeks. "We're dropping games we shouldn't lose and we've got to find ways to win. We've got to re-evaluate our character and focus on the right things. The last thing I want to do is back into the playoffs. If we don't win the next two games, we don't belong in the playoffs." Muskegon started out the season 4-1, but has gone 1-4 in their last five games.

Both Fort Wayne and Muskegon will play their final two games of the regular season on the road. Muskegon visits the Chicago Slaughter and the Saginaw Sting while the Freedom has road games against the Chesapeake Tide and the Kalamazoo Xplosion.

FORT WAYNE-KALAMAZOO CONNECTION

When he is not coaching the Fort Wayne Freedom, Matt Land is the head coach at Division III Tri-State University in northern Indiana. Two of his assistant coaches at Tri-State currently play for the Kalamazoo Xplosion, wide receiver Dan Musielewicz and defensive back David Gator. The Freedom will take on the Xplosion in the regular season finale for both teams on Saturday night, June 7 at Wings Stadium in Kalamazoo.

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Randy Snow is a freelance football writer from Kalamazoo, Michigan. Since 2003, he has covered the Arena Football League, arenafootball2, United Indoor Football, the Continental Indoor Football League, the All American Football League and the Canadian Football League. Randy has been a member of the Arena Football League Writer's Association since 2005 and can be reached at randysnow22@yahoo.com

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Continental Indoor Football League Stories from May 25, 2008


The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer(s), and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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