Rage heads to Florida for showdown
Published on May 17, 2006 under National Indoor Football League (NIFL)
RiverCity Rage News Release
The RiverCity Rage of the National Indoor Football League will look to knock off the Lakeland Thunderbolts in a game in Lakeland, Florida on Saturday night. The Rage at 6-1 have a commanding 3 game lead in the Atlantic North Division, while the Thunderbolts at 8-0 are the Atlantic Conference's top squad and one of only two unbeatens in the NIFL. The Thunderbolts also have a 3 game lead in the Atlantic South Division over Osceola.
"We will have our work cut out for us. You don't get to 8-0 without being a good football team. But, that also brings out the best in players and coaches to meet these kinds of challenges" stated Rage Head Football Coach, Mike Wyatt.
The Thunderbolts are coming off a road victory to nearby Hollywood, Florida, where they managed to hang on to defeat the Florida Frenzy 38-25 in a game that saw the two teams combine for 7 turnovers. Lakeland held the advantage with +3 in turnovers, over the host Frenzy.
The Rage have had a bye week in order to heal up injuries that have seen key offensive performers Hurtis Chinn, Moses Regular and Danny Donaldson miss all or parts of the last two games.
"We needed the break to get some guys healed up and hopefully we will be motivated to knock off the only unbeaten team in our conference." added Wyatt.
The game can also have far-reaching implications in the playoffs, as both teams look to be shoe-ins to host first round games. However, the seeding in subsequent rounds will depend on overall record and record within the conference. If the Rage can knock off Lakeland, it would put the two teams into a 3 way tie with Fayetteville, also a one loss team. Since head to head competition would be the tie breaker and all three teams have not played, the second tie-breaker would be records within the conference. If all things were to remain the same through the remainder of the season, the Rage would own the tie-breaker, as their only loss would be to an opponent from the Pacific Conference, while Fayetteville would have lost to Lakeland and Lakeland to the Rage, all of which came to Atlantic Conference teams.
"Huh? Right now, we can't look any further than Lakeland. We would still have 6 more games to play after this one, so we just need to focus on this one, then we will worry about playoffs at that time." Wyatt noted.
Game time is set for 7 PM on Saturday, May 20 at the Lakeland Center in Lakeland Florida.
The Rage is back at Savvis Center on Friday, May 26 as they host the Dayton Bulldogs in an Atlantic North Division contest. Tickets for that game can be purchased via Ticketmaster or at the Savvis Center Box Office.
PARTING SHOTS:
Last Meeting Between 2 teams: April 22, 2005
The Rage won that one 60-38 in the only meeting between the two teams, to date.
Coaching Records in Head to Head Competition:
Rage's Wyatt leads 1-0 over Thunderbolt's Keaton. That win came in the 2005 NIFL All Star game where Wyatt was the Head Coach of the NIFL All Stars as they defeated the Odessa Roughnecks 49-44. Keaton was the defensive coordinator of the Roughnecks, at the time. Technically, the loss would not be attributed to Keaton, but rather, Chris Williams, the Roughnecks head football coach at the time. Keaton is currently 8-0 as a head football coach, while Wyatt boasts a record of 214-76-2 as a head coach.
National Indoor Football League Stories from May 17, 2006
- Drillers to honor Lady Bruin soccer team - Beaumont Drillers
- Rage heads to Florida for showdown - RiverCity Rage
- Commentary: NIFL daily buzz - OSC Original by Jerry Hewitt
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