Rage Lose Heart Breaker On The Road
June 13, 2009 - Indoor Football League (IFL) News Release
BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS: The RiverCity Rage fell to 8-4 on the season after suffering a tough 20-16 defeat at the heads of the Bloomington Extreme on Saturday night. The game was a defensive struggle as both teams were held to their fewest point totals of the season. The Rage has now dropped three of their last four games but is still in control of a key home playoff game.
With the score sitting at 18-10 in favor of Bloomington with under a minute to go in the game, Rage quarterback John Dutton hit Maurice Avery for his 16th receiving touchdown of the season to put the Rage down just two points. Needing the two point conversion to tie, the Bloomington defense held up and stopped the Rage on their conversion attempt. The Rage recovered an on side kick attempt but was forced into the end zone for a controversial safety, the second of the game for the Extreme, which closed out the contest for the Extreme.
Special teams were a huge factor in the outcome of the game and new Rage kicker Jason Bondzio had a stellar performance. He connected on field goals of 49, 45, and 19 yards and forced a one-point rouge with a great second quarter kickoff. Bondzio, playing in just his second professional contest, is a perfect four-of-four on field goals this season. Bloomington place kicker Peter Christofilakos had a rough night, missing on five field goal attempts but he did connect on a 53-yard shot which ended up being the game winner.
The Rage struggled to put the ball in the end zone against a tough Bloomington defensive attack, recording just 170 total yards of offense. Dutton was 19-of-37 for 149 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions in his Rage debut. Hurtis Chinn caught eight passes for 63 yards and Avery chipped in five receptions for 42 yards and a touchdown.
The Rage held Bloomington to just 144 yards of total offense and knocked out starting quarterback Dusty Burk with just 115 yards passing. Keith Brooks managed the only Bloomington touchdown, a two yard run on the game's first series of the game. Byron Jones led the Rage with 7.5 tackles while Pig Brown had 6.5 tackles, 2.5 for loss. The Rage will return home for the final time during the regular season on June 20th to battle El Paso, kickoff set for 7:30 p.m. They will wrap up the regular season in two weeks when they travel to Wichita on Saturday, June 27th before taking two weeks off before the 2009 IFL Playoffs begin.
"It was a tough loss for us for sure," said head coach Rik Richards. "I am real proud of the way our defense and special teams played tonight but we have some work to do before we play El Paso on Saturday."
The RiverCity Rage is a member of the Indoor Football League. All Rage home games are played at The Family Arena in St. Charles, MO. For information contact the Rage at (636) 946-RAGE or log on to www.ragefootball.com.
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Indoor Football League Stories from June 13, 2009
- Extreme Rattle Rage, 20-16 - Bloomington Extreme
- Rage Lose Heart Breaker On The Road - IFL
- Colorado Loses to El Paso 65-33 - Colorado Crush
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