Muskegon Thunder Lose Final Home Game of 2009
by Randy Snow
June 7, 2009 - Indoor Football League (IFL)
Muskegon Thunder
The Muskegon Thunder of the Indoor Football League finished the home portion of their 2009 schedule Saturday night (June 6) with yet another loss. This time it was the RiverCity Rage that topped the Thunder on the scoreboard by the final of 43-20.
The Rage jumped out to a 10-0 lead early in the game, but the Thunder got on the scoreboard at the end of the first quarter when Muskegon quarterback Buddy Rivera ran the ball into the end zone himself cutting the RiverCity lead to 10-7.
Muskegon closed the gap to 16-13 in the second quarter when Rivera connected with wide receiver Jon Matthews on a 30-yard touchdown strike, but that was as close as the Thunder would get all night. RiverCity led 23-13 at the half.
The Rage shut out the Thunder in the third quarter while scoring two touchdowns of their own, a 38-yard touchdown run by running back Vincent Webb and a 4-yard run by quarterback Jimmy Sangster. RiverCity led 37-13 at the end of the third.
Muskegon did outscore the Rage 7-6 in the final quarter, but it was too little, too late by then as the Rage completed the 43-20 victory. RiverCity snapped a two-game losing streak and improved its record to 8-3. A meager crowd of only about 500 fans attended at the game.
Muskegon's only win of the season so far is a 34-26 victory over the Saginaw Sting at home back on May 1. The Thunder record now stands at 1-11. The team has fired, not one, but two, head coaches this season, Brent White, who led the team to a record of 0-4, and his replacement, Anthony Parker, who posted a 1-5 record. The team is now being led by a trio of assistant coaches.
Muskegon takes to the road for the final two regular season games of the year. They will travel to play the Maryland Maniacs on Saturday night, June 13, and then they will have a few weeks off before heading to New York to take on the Rochester Raiders on Friday night, July 10.
It is obvious that the transition from the 7-on-7 Continental Indoor Football League, the league that the Thunder played in from 2007-2008, to the 8-on-8 style of the IFL has been more difficult than expected. They will need make some major improvements to the coaching staff and the players if they hope to be competitive in the IFL next season.
MASCOT MANIA
At halftime, the Muskegon Thunder mascot, Boomer, celebrated his birthday along with several other local mascots. There was one from Quizno's and another from Papa John's Pizza as well as the mascot of the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the International Hockey League, which also plays its home games in the LC Walker Arena. One mascot that I was surprised but happy to see was Xplodey the Coyote from the defunct CIFL Kalamazoo Xplosion football team! The Thunder and the Xplosion were CIFL rivals on the indoor gridiron in 2007 and 2008.
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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 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. He also runs the web site www.theworldoffootball.com.
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Indoor Football League Stories from June 7, 2009
- Muskegon Thunder Lose Final Home Game of 2009 - OSC Original by Randy Snow
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