Quad City Steamwheelers Defeat the Green Bay Blizzard 61-24 in Happy Joe's Pizza Bowl III.
Published on March 25, 2007 under arenafootball2 (af2)
Quad City Steamwheelers News Release
March 25, 2007, (Moline, Ill.) - In what has become an annual pre-season tussle the Quad City Steamwheelers defeated the Green Bay Blizzard 61-24 in the Happy Joe's Pizza Bowl.
Both Steamwheelers quarterbacks, J.J. Raterink and Matt Pike threw for over 100 yards and three touchdowns in a game that saw Quad City jump out to a 40-6 lead early through the third quarter.
The Steamwheelers got on the board first, after holding Green Bay to a missed field goal attempt early in the first quarter with a three play scoring drive. Quad City wide receiver Kris Peters caught a four-yard pass with 7:32 left in the quarter to cap the 44-yard drive and the Steamwheelers never looked back.
Raterink and Pike split time throughout the game with Raterink tallying 130 yards and three touchdowns on 11 completions, while Pike racked up 118 yards and three TD's on nine completions. The wide receiving corps kept busy as six players registered over 20 yards receiving in the game and six players caught a touchdown pass. Peters led the wide outs with 74 yards on four catches. Peters also had a 57-yard missed field goal return for a touchdown with no time remaining in the first half.
Defensively for the âWheelers defensive back Malik Jackson had an impressive showing, tallying 5.5 tackles (five solo and one assisted). He also forced two fumbles, recovered a fumble and had a five yard sack. Linebacker Jermaine Petty was able to keep pressure on Green Bay quarterbacks Zeke Dixon and Ryan Hawk as he assisted on a sack and recorded a team-leading four quarterback hurries.
The three biggest plays for the Blizzard came in the second half when Hawk hit receiver Kerry Wright with his second 40-plus yard touchdown reception of the game with 4:44 left in the third quarter, bringing the score to 40-12 in favor of Quad City. The other two plays came late in the fourth quarter when receiver Dan Donaldson returned a kickoff 52 yards with 1:48 remaining and defensive back Shawn Manning had a 48-yard interception return with 40 seconds remaining.
Dixon finished with 125 yards and one touchdown throw on nine completions, while Wright led all receivers with 89 yards and two touchdowns on two receptions. Defensive back Stephen Cason led the defense with 5.5 tackles (five solo, one assisted) and one tackle for a loss.
The Steamwheelers will open the season on Saturday, March 31 in Cincinnati, while the Blizzard travel to Fort Wayne for their season opening contest.
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