Quad City Steamwheelers Fall to Albany 73-62

April 29, 2006 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Quad City Steamwheelers News Release


(Albany, NY) - The Quad City Steamwheelers dropped their fourth straight game with a 73-62 loss to the Albany Conquest on Saturday, April 29. On a night when Quad City hoped to celebrate their 100th regular season game in its history and also snap a five-game losing streak dating back to the 2005 season, two turnovers ended up being the difference.

Albany sealed the game with 44 seconds remaining when Reggie Perkins was unable to control a kickoff that bounced off the net. Antwun Williams, the U.S. Army Ironman of the Game, recovered the ball for Albany in the endzone to give the Conquest a 73-55 lead, effectively ending any chance at a Steamwheelers comeback.

With the Steamwheelers trailing 54-49 and threatening to score with 9:10 left in the game, quarterback Tim Hicks fumbled the ball five yards from the endzone and Jim Jones recovered for Albany to set up a three play 44 second drive to extend the lead to 61-49.

Quad City started the game strong scoring just 1:06 into the contest when Hicks found Tim Dodge open for a 32 yard strike. After Albany answered just two plays into their first drive the game would go back and forth with Quad City taking their first half-time lead of the season when Hicks hit Tony McClain for a 10 yard pass with just 17 seconds left in the half, giving Quad City a 36-33 halftime advantage.

With both teams continuing to trade touchdowns in the third quarter the Steamwheelers would take their final lead of the game, 49-47, when Bo Smith caught his second touchdown pass of the night on a 38 yard pass just eight seconds into the fourth quarter.

Hicks finished the night with eight touchdown tosses and 365 yards on 29 completions. Jack Walker Jr., Bo Smith and Kris Peters each finished the evening with two touchdown catches. Walker led the group receiving corps with 152 yards on the evening. Defensively Troy Graham, who was named the ADT Defensive Player of the Game, finished with a game-high eight tackles and recorded the only tackle for a loss on the night for either team.

Albany quarterback Ryan Vena, who entered the game throwing for a league-high nine interceptions, cured his turnover woes with a five touchdown performance and 353 yard night with no turnovers. Vena also ran in three of the 10 total Albany touchdowns. For his efforts Vena was named the Schutt Offensive Player of the Game.

The loss dropped the Steamwheelers to 0-4 on the season, their worst start in franchise history. Quad City has not won in its last six outings, dating back to the 2005 season. The Steamwheelers will travel to Central Valley for a 9:00 p.m. (CST) game next weekend.



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