Knoxville Nighthawks Make Their Debut in Pre-Season Game
Published on March 9, 2012 under Professional Indoor Football League (PIFL)
Knoxville NightHawks News Release
The Knoxville Nighthawks made their Professional Indoor Football League premier tonight in Knoxville's Civic Coliseum. The Nighthawks hosted the Alabama Hammers for a pre-season game to kick off the 2012 season. After a physical match up, the Hammers left the field with a 70-45 win.
Nighthawks coach, Chris Mackeown said the introductory game helped them learn a lot, and he is ready to make the necessary improvements for their regular season. "There's things we can build on, and we found out a lot about who can get it done. The best news is we're still 0-0. It's just a scrimmage."
The Nighthawks won the toss to begin the game. After going down at the one yard line the Nighthawks scored their first touchdown 4:07 minutes into the first quarter. After earning the extra point the Nighthawks took an early 7-0 lead.
Alabama tied the game with just over 7 minutes left. They tried to run it back into the end-zone, but Knoxville held them off. After breaking up the riled up teams, the Hammers kicked their field goal to tie the game at 7. The Nighthawks made a second touchdown to end the first quarter in the lead,14-7.
At the start of the second quarter Alabama found the end-zone to tie the game at 14. On the Nighthawks fourth down with 10:57 left in the quarter kicker Alex Walls kicked it in to push Knoxville back into the lead at 17-14.
Alabama was next to score taking their first lead of the game. But Knoxville got back on top with 1:46 left in the quarter. With no extra point earned the score was at 23-21. Then Walls kicked to return the ball and kicked between the posts for a one point "uno". Alabama scored again with 48.3 seconds left to move into the lead again at 28-24. A Knoxville time out and one more touchdown by Alabama sent the teams into halftime with Alabama leading 35-24.
At the start of the second half Knoxville's Kelvin Thompson caught the ball for a touchdown to bring the Nighthawks' score up to 31. After Alabama completed a 30 yard touchdown pass they were in the lead 42-31. Knoxville's Ryan Schuck stopped the Hammers' next attempt to score on third and goal. But they grabbed another touchdown with 4:40 minutes left in the third. Alabama was given a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct causing them to kick their extra point from the 20 yard line. The kick was good boosting the Hammers lead to 49-31.
The return kick was caught at the one yard line by Thompson who traveled down the field for a 23 yard return pushing through several Alabama defensemen. Knoxville continued their great play and earned another touchdown, closing the score gap to 38-49 to end the third quarter.
Alabama kicked off the final quarter with a 13 yard pass to a touchdown making the score 56-38. They followed it with a second touchdown on their next possession. Then Knoxville caught the kick and returned it the full 50 yards for a touchdown, but it was waved off because of a flag on the play, and the Nighthawks went to first and 10.
Knoxville's Omar Winston caught the ball and was taken down at the one yard line. After their final time out of the half, Knoxville scored their last touchdown for their final score of 45. Alabama earned their final touchdown with 53.8 seconds left of the game to seal their 70-45 win.
The team will travel to Columbus on March 17th and Richmond on March 24th. The Nighthawks will open their official season on Saturday, March 31 in the Civic Coliseum at 7 p.m. against the Richmond Raiders. For single game or season ticket information call 865-686-6106.
Professional Indoor Football League Stories from March 9, 2012
- Alabama Hammers Defeat Knoxville 70-45 in Preseason Action - Alabama Hammers
- Knoxville Nighthawks Make Their Debut in Pre-Season Game - Knoxville NightHawks
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