Freedom return home focussed on Hammers
May 27, 2015 - Professional Indoor Football League (PIFL)
Trenton Freedom News Release
Trenton Freedom Home Field
(Trenton Freedom)
TRENTON, N.J.--The Freedom have just one win this season versus their remaining opponents for the 2015 season.
The one win is against their opponent this week, the Alabama Hammers. The Freedom return to the Sun National Bank Center on Saturday, May 30 to face the Hammers.
Last week, the Freedom had a tough loss to the Richmond Raiders by a score of 46-40 and ended the road trip 2-1.
"We needed to go 3-0 on the road," said Head Coach Kevin O'Hanlon. "And we didn't. That's the bottom line."
They turned the ball over four times in the loss as well.
"We can't turn the ball over," he said. "We don't turn the ball over, it's a different game. We end up losing by six with four turnovers, so if we keep the possessions, they don't score. We score, we win."
One guy who had a great game in Richmond and has been a top defensive player throughout the season is defensive back Mike McMillan.
He had two pick-sixes in the game against Richmond and is the Freedom's all-time interceptions leader (let that sink in for a second) with seven in eight games played.
"For the most part, it's just attacking the ball," said McMillan, whose seven interceptions rank him second in the PIFL. "That's the thing I focus on, just making plays."
Fans will see quite a different team than the one they saw over a month ago.
Several roster moves have been made to Head Coach Kevin O'Hanlon's squad that has helped the team battle from a 2-3 record to a 4-4 record, and in a fight for a playoff spot.
"The coaches aren't going to bring anybody here who can't play," said the fullback Brown. "As long as they pick up on the way we play here, they should do fine.
"The fans should expect the same type of Freedom football in that we're going to fight, we're going to work, we plan to score every time we touch the ball and our defense is going to punch people in the mouth."
McMillan believes in two things the Freedom must do to win games going forward. They're two aspects that he feels have made differences between wins and losses.
"Playing physical, that's the main thing that's helped us out," McMillan said. "I think we [also] need to get off to better starts in the first half. We need to wake up and start playing, and play harder.
Freedom DC Sloth inspires through children's book writing
Ryan Sloth was reading a children's football book to his young son several years ago and was alarmed by what he had just read.
"I'm about halfway through the book and I realized that this was absolute garbage," said Sloth, the current Freedom Defensive Coordinator. "It made no sense whatsoever, it was poorly written, and you could tell it was written by somebody who didn't know football."
Sloth then set out to do what a lot of other competitive people do. Believing he could write a better book, knowing he was a football guy, Sloth went to work on a children's book.
He wrote something when he was in high school for a project and saved it so he could possibly publish it one day.
"If that garbage football book could get written, I'm sure mine could get written too," he said. "I dug it out, revised it, changed it around a bit, found a publisher, sent them the story and they wanted to publish it."
The process of writing, publishing and producing the first story, Sammy Sloth Sport Superstar, took about a year. One of the perks that come with writing these books is to be able to reach out to kids at schools.
To this day, Sloth has visited schools in 14 different states. He added New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the list this year.
"It's a lot of fun," he said. "And I was having so much fun, that's when I wanted to write book number two, then three, then four.
His Freedom schedule allows him to keep brainstorming ideas for writing while reaching out to other kids.
"I coach during the spring, I have the fall, and with the way the [Freedom] schedule is set up where we practice in the evening, it gives me the day I can go to schools and talk to kids."
He's learned to be picky about what he wants in a book because he realizes these books will be around forever. He recently wrote a book about his alma mater, Iowa State, called Sammy and the ISU Cyclones.
A lot of football players look for careers to pursue once their time playing the game is over. Sloth has found the niche that can leave a lasting impact and that he can work on when football isn't in season.
"Absolutely, it's a great offseason gig," he said. "It's awesome knowing that it's something that'll be around forever. A hundred years from now, my great, great grandkids can read it."
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 Trenton Freedom in Action |
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Professional Indoor Football League Stories from May 27, 2015
- Freedom return home focussed on Hammers - Trenton Freedom
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