Rage end season's first half on high note by dominating New Jersey
May 9, 2005 - National Indoor Football League (NIFL)
RiverCity Rage News Release
The River City Rage of the NIFL wound up the first half of the 2005 season Sunday night at Family Arena by trouncing the visiting New Jersey Xtreme in a special Mothers Day game against a team showing a game face that only a mother could love. The Rage took advantage of New Jersey's poor play calling, bad center snaps, penalties and overall dismal performance to dominate on both sides of the ball and record an impressive 62-13 victory, improving it's record to a league leading 6-1 in the Atlantic East Conference. New Jersey's woes continued as the team remained winless at 0-7.
It was an added home game for The Rage due to a venue conflict in the New Jersey area and the team wasted little time in showing fans why the second half of the season should be a punched ticket to the playoffs! Rage Running back Sha-Ron Edwards got the rout rolling early, when at 12:13 of the first quarter, he took a handoff from Quarterback Clay Groefsema and spun into the end zone from 4 yards out. Kicker John Butler shook off his early game jitters from the previous week, found the uprights, and the Rage led by a score of 7-0.
The X-treme's first series of downs set the stage for the entire afternoon as Quarterback Lou Scala fumbled the center snap on the first play from scrimmage, was sacked by Rage Defensive End Bruce Blue on third and 3, and watched a 47 yard field goal attempt by Greg Tonzola sail wide right.
Coach Mike Wyatt's high-powered offense struck paydirt again three plays later, when Groefsema aired out a 7 yard pass to newcomer Chris Williams for the score. Williams was activated for the first time, having practiced with the team for the last 6 weeks after impressing Coach Wyatt in pre-season open tryouts. Butler's kick was wide and the Rage held a 13-0 lead.
New Jersey on it's second series showed all the earmarks of a team in turmoil. Coaching changes, management problems and roster upgrading have contributed to the team's general overall poor play and lack of on- field concentration and bad timing. On third down, Rage Defensive End Lenny Williams shot into the Xtreme backfield to sack Scala for a loss, forcing Tonzola to attempt another long-shot field goal try. The 55 yard attempt fell far short, and the Rage used only 2 plays to score again, this time on a 1 yard plunge into the end zone by Moses Regular. Kick good, Rage up, pace and tone set, and the team never trailed or looked back the rest of the game!
A second quarter blocked field goal attempt by Williams, and a fumble recovery by Rage Linebacker Terrell Washington stopped back-to back New Jersey drives, the latter setting up a 13 yard touchdown pass from Groesfema to Corey Bethany. Bethany, starting in place of the injured Hurtis Chinn, made one of the more spectacular catches of the season, going up for the pass and flying head first into the seats over the end zone dasherboards, hanging on to the ball and bring the crowd to it's feet. Butler's P-A-T Made the score 27-0.
Another stalled drive and a missed field goal gave The Rage the ball once again, and this time it was Scott Pingel on the receiving end of a 20 yard Clay Groefsema touchdown strike. Butler again split the uprights and after a Terrell Washington interception, a rare non-scoring Rage drive, and sacks on Xtreme Quarterback Lou Scala by both Bruce Blue and Washington, it was 34-0 and all the Rage for the Mother's Day crowd.
Five drives in the third quarter, 3 by the Rage, 2 by the Xtreme produced a rarity in this year's NIFL, especially for The River City Rage; no points on the scoreboard!
The Rage made up for it in the fourth quarter, capping a 6 play drive with a 6 yard TD pass from Groefsema to Moses Regular. Kick good, Rage in front 41-0.
After almost a complete offensive shutdown through 3 plus quarters, the Xtreme finally broke through for a score at 9:33 of the final quarter when Quarterback Lou Scala scampered into the end zone from one yard out. The P-A-T distance was apparently more to kicker Greg Tonzola's liking as he split the uprights, making the score 41-7.
But The Rage were not only skilled on Sunday, they were lucky, too. Two plays later, a Groefsema pass was complete to Chris Williams, who fumbled on the New Jersey 11 yard line. But in a day long series of snake-bites, the Xtreme defenders watched the football bounce off the turf and into the hands of Wide Receiver Scott Pingel, who didn't break stride as he scooped it up and hustled into the end zone. Kick good, Rage rollin' at 48-7.
Then it was new Linebacker Joe Bevis' turn to record a sack! The Edwardsville native and 3 year University of Illinois starter slammed through the exhausted New Jersey O-Line to slam a by now shell-shocked Lou Scala to the Family Arena turf.
Reserve Rage QB Anthony Fisher took over for Groefsema, but the scoring didn't stop. Fisher's favorite target became Moses Regular, and the pass combination was good for touchdown passes of 3 and 10 yards in the final quarter. The X-treme managed a late score on a 26 yard touchdown pass from Scala to Wide Receiver Eric Childs. Childs made a couple of circus type catches in the second half, proving to be one of the few bright spots on the New Jersey roster.
While the offense put up 62 points, this game may have been more about the steadily improving Rage 'D'. Since taking over the calling of the defense some 3 games ago, Head Football Coach Mike Wyatt has seen The Rage defense intensify and reduce mental errors and secondary mistakes. It peaked at just the right time on Sunday, recording 9 sacks, recovering 3 fumbles and stepping up for an interception as well. The X-treme was held to only 93 yards rushing, and The Rage secondary again stepped it up a notch for Coach Wyatt, allowing only seven completions all afternoon, good for a mere 65 yards.
Rage Quarterback Clay Groefsema completed 14 of 25 passes, good for 197 yards and 5 touchdowns. Anthony Fisher came on in a reserve role to complete 3 of 9 passes, but 2 were right on the money to Moses Regular for touchdowns.
Wide Receiver Scott Pingel added to his league leading totals by hauling down 8 passes for 2 scores and went over the century mark with 104 yards receiving. Moses Regular had 5 receptions but found the end zone three times! He also ran for a TD score, having what Coach Wyatt called one of his better efforts on the year.
All in all, it was a good finish to the first half of the season. And on the home front, things only get better for the team in weeks to come. The Rage will play four of the next five games at The Family Arena, beginning with this Saturday's matchup against the Dayton Warbirds. Kickoff is slated for 7pm and the game can be heard on 1380 ESPN Radio and audio-streamed on both the 1380 ESPN and Ragefootball.com websites.
The Rage are front-runners in the Atlantic East Division, followed by The Cincinnati Marshals with a record of 4-2. Dayton is tied for second place, also at 4-2 and New Jersey is 0-7 on the year.
QUOTES FROM RAGE HEAD FOOTBALL COACH MIKE WYATT
(On the team's performance on offense)
"Well, most may be surprised to hear this, but I really felt we could have performed better. We should have put more points on the board, even though we scored on six of our eight chances in the red-zone. I take some blame for that as well in the fact my play calling could have been better. We were third and one at about the eighteen at one point and I called back- to- back play action passes, which turned out to be a mistake. I just felt there were times we didn't look as sharp as we could have been. And I was disappointed in our running game, although I may have quit on it too soon."
(On being 6-1 at the halfway point of the season)
"I think the team is close to where I thought we'd be, and although we should be 7-0, a record of 6-1 is obviously great and a moral booster for the second half of the year and the road to the playoffs. No real surprises personnel wise, although I have to say it's great to see Terrell Washington getting better week after week. He's really come on, stepping up to be the kind of player we knew he could be."
(On the improved Rage Defense)
"I'm impressed with our defense and it's really answered the bell in the past few games. The players are getting more physical and that's always a good indication of guys that have bought into a new or different system. As an example, on one particular pass play, we had two guys rushing the passer and six guys in on the tackle after a short completion. That's concentration and effort coming head to head on the football field."
(On the kicking game)
"It's still a bit shaky, although I did see some improvement in the game against New Jersey. But it still needs work to b e where I want it to be."
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