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Rage hits roadblock

June 21, 2005 - National Indoor Football League (NIFL)
RiverCity Rage News Release


From start to finish, it wasn't very pretty, and at the end it was downright ugly.

The River City Rage of the NIFL were hustled out of Dodge on Saturday night by the hometown Lubbock Gunslingers, and will have to regroup fast to avoid having it's playoff championship dreams evaporate as fast as the ones promised to cowboys from the back of an old fashioned western-era medicine wagon.

'We need a road-side attitude adjustment," said Head Football Coach Mike Wyatt after his team's 62- 60 loss to a Lubbock team that had won only three of it's first twelve games, " this is the third time we've tripped up on the road and we've still got Dayton to play on Friday. That's a road game, and it's possible the championship game (Indoor Bowl) could be away from home for us as well, although right now, I'm concerned with us just getting to that point."

Wyatt, however, went on to say that despite the loss, he was proud of his team's ability to "maintain dignity and show sportsmanship in the face of some pretty adverse circumstances. Quite a few of their players were up in the face of my guys on many an occasion, taunting them, trash talking and so forth. I don't buy into that, and players I coach know to let their playing speak for them. We may have lost a close game, but we didn't let our emotions get away from us. That said, it was a disappointing loss, and when you lose there is never a great deal you can say. We came out flat and got beat. Anything else I offer would seem like an excuse, so let's just say we've got work to do before Friday."

It'll be make-up work from Saturday night when The Rage let a team with no individual offensive statistical leaders on it's roster have a basic career day against one of the better defensive teams in the NIFL. And for a Lubbock team that had scored only 192 points in it's first 12 games, putting up 62 and a victory pulled the Rage 'Wanted' posters from every other locker room wall in the league!

Lubbock quarterback Mark Saldana completed 21 of his 32 passes on the night, good for 260 yards and 5 touchdowns. Saldana ran well out of the pocket, dodging Rage tacklers on several occasions to fire left-handed shots to receivers open across the middle of the field. Wide Receiver Darrick Wallace was the main target most of the game, hauling in 11 receptions, good for 139 yards and two touchdowns. On two separate touchdown passes from Saldana, his throws were deflected at the goal-line, and touched or batted up in the air by Rage defenders, before being hauled in by Lubbock receivers. Saldana spent the better part of the game picking apart a Rage secondary that was visibly affected by the loss of team captain and veteran Clarence 'CJ' Jones, who sat out the contest due to a slight shoulder injury. "Not having CJ in the line-up hurt our chances," Wyatt said later, "you not only lose a starter, but maybe more importantly, you lose an emotional leader, a guy who fires up the other players and gets the defense pumped up. We missed that tonight."

The Rage let New Jersey hang around for a quarter or so, Lincoln for nearly a half, and Cincinnati till halftime. Last Saturday night, Lubbock hung tough long enough to out-draw The Rage at showdown time!

Trailing 59 to 54 with 6:06 to play, The Rage put together a 5 play, 19 yard drive that was capped with a one yard quarterback sneak into the end zone by Clay Groefsema. The resulting 2 pt. conversion attempt was no good (Groefsema pass to Corey Bethany) and with 3:16 to play, The Rage held a precarious 60-59 lead.

Lubbock used the clock and Saldans's running and two pass completions to get the football to the River City 3 yard line .That's when kicker Kevin Tate, who had been a perfect 8 for 8 on P-A-T's and had already fired up a 30 yard field goal, slammed a 17 yarder to put the Gunslingers ahead 62-60 with only 4 seconds left to play.

For the Rage, it's time being played over and over!

The Gunslingers employed Tate to squib kick the ball in an attempt to run out the clock, but sure handed Rage wide receiver Scott Pingel batted the ball down and fell on it at the Lubbock 16 yard line, stopping the clock with only 2 seconds remaining. Enter Rage kicker Mike Matheny, who also had been perfect on the night with 6 for 6 in P-A-T attempts. This one, a 30 yard shot for the win, an 11-2 record and an over .500 road record for the Rage in 2005.

Lubbock had three timeouts left, and used one each time long-snapper Chase Denton bent over the ball.

Snap, ball down, kick is up and . . .

Rage assistant coach Charles Edmunds; "I watched the ball go straight through the uprights, then head off to the right. I saw the Ref raise his hands up in the air, and I jumped up and ran on to the field, thinking we had won the game. Then he lowers his hands, after looking at another Referee who had signalled 'no good' and then HE waves it off. I couldn't believe it. I still can't."

Believe it! The Rage fall to 10-3 on the year, and 2-3 on the road, but have a chance to go even up away from Family Arena with a victory Friday night in Dayton against the 6-6 Warbirds. The loss has no bearing on the conference playoffs, and The Rage will host at least one and hopefully, as many as three playoff games at Savvis Center. And if an Indoor Bowl game is in the future, on the road, well, good teams win close games on the road. It's a football theory The Rage had best adapt in a hurry.

QUOTES FROM RAGE HEAD FOOTBALL COACH MIKE WYATT

(On the end of game field goal call)

"One Referee was looking straight up at the ball from behind the posts as it went up. I wanna see it on game film, but even if I see something different than what was called, it doesn't change anything. Only one call counts and it's already been made, and it's the one we have to live with."

(On the absence of Moses Regular and Clarence Jones in Saturday's game)

"Losing CJ as an emotional leader on the field played a role, no doubt. And with Moses, not only is his role removed from the offense as the largest target for Clay to connect with, we lose our long- snapper as well. And both those players are important on special teams, so not having them certainly didn't help our chances of winning."

(On his practice strategy this week to re-focus after a tough loss) "We have to again, for the fourth time this season, get back to the basics of the game. We missed way too many tackles on Saturday and that made a difference in the football game. So, again, we need to concentrate on the so called little things that end up having a big effect on the outcome of a game."

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