Over a Cup of Coffee

by Jerry Hewitt
April 19, 2010 - Indoor Football League (IFL)

Monday is a great day to catch up on all the weekend's action. Although I don't like Sunday games as a rule because I believe they hurt attendance, it's still nice to have a few games to look over.

The IFL was the only league to see action yesterday and had four contests on the docket. Two looked like very good match ups while the other two were just so-so.

Onto the games

Looking at it, you knew Richmond 5-1 at Rochester 3-3 was going to be a back and forth battle and it lived up to the hype as the lead changed throughout in this defensive battle. Richmond held a slim 15-13 halftime advantage, but Rochester led 33-25 at the end of three. The Richmond defense held Rochester scoreless in the fourth while the offense supplied the needed 15 points to get the 40-33 win on the road and hang on to first place and a two game lead in the Atlantic East.

Next we have my game of the week as I am a Tri-Cities Fever fan so I'm a bit partial in calling it my game of the week. The Fever were on the road in the second game of this in-state rivalry against the Kent Predators. Kent won the first meeting in Tri-Cities 44-39. Last week the Fever found their defense for the first time this season in downing Fairbanks for their first win 44-39. Kent barely got by Alaska last week at home 59-54 which brings us up to date for Sunday's match up. the Fever wasted no time in getting on the board on their first drive to go up 7-0, but then the test came. Would their defense roll over like they did two weeks ago or put the stop on Kent QB Charles McCullum? The early answer was no, as McCullum surged ahead play after play for gains as the Predators matched the Fever's 7. The first half seemed to go the way of the initail meeting with everything going Kent's way and the Fever defense maybe still on the bus, caught in traffic, still trying to get to the game. At the half, Kent 21, Tri-Cities 7. The second half didn't get much better for the Fever and in the end Kent prevailed 55-33 Tri-Cities falls to 1-4 while Kent improves to 3-3.

Amarillo 5-0 at Colorado 0-6 doesn't exactly excite many outside of the fans for the teams, but a win by Colorado might be considered the biggest upset to date in the IFL. I personally don't think Colorado has bad talent, but their lack of on field success may be due to poor coaching. Some long-time indoor football coaches that enjoyed success early on in this game have not grown with the game. That's maybe the case with Coach Collin Sanders. It doesn't help the team that he also is GM. These days one man can't do both jobs well and it shows on the field and off. Colorado got on the scoreboard first for an early 6-0 lead. Answer Amarillo, 7-6, and the game, scratch that, race was on. Early on it looked like Amarillo brought its af2 defense to the game. That means none as the Ice showed no early problems in scoring. At the half, the Ice led 29-21 over the undefeated visitors. In the second half the Amarillo defense woke up making it more difficult for the Ice to get on the board. In the second half the Vipers put up 35 to the Ice's 8 to preserve their unbeaten record with a 56-37 win.

Sioux City 3-3 at La Crosse 0-6 is another game that looked like a yawner except to fans. The biggest news in La Crosse this week wasn't their signing of some new players to help get their first win, but a guarantee by the team that they would win or their next home game free to fans. I think signing some new talent might have made better sense and signing new talent was what their opponent, the Bandits did. I didn't get a chance to follow this game but at the half the Bandits led 22-14. The second half saw each team only score six points each as Sioux City held on for the 28-20 win.

This article and more archived at The Indoor Football Report located at www.IndoorFootballNetwork.com Comments about this article or suggestions can be made to indoorbowl@yahoo.com

Indoor Football League Stories from April 19, 2010

• Indoor Football League Week Eight Recap - IFL
• Storm Trooper Camp Set - Sioux Falls Storm
• Roughnecks Reacquire Former Abilene Ruff Riders DL Fred Thrweatt - West Texas Roughnecks
• Predators Win Third In A Row, Even Record At 3-3 - Seattle Timberwolves
• Over a Cup of Coffee - OSC Original by Jerry Hewitt

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.