Rage take week off to re-group for NIFL's second season
June 27, 2005 - National Indoor Football League (NIFL)
RiverCity Rage News Release
It's not quite the end-of-season play-out the River City Rage had in mind. After clinching the Atlantic East title with a victory against the Cincinnati Marshals two weeks ago, capping off a perfect 8 and 0 home mark that at times showcased a virtual indoor football clinic at Family Arena, the show then hit the road, but the road hit back hard with a surprising left-right combination. And suddenly, one of the NIFL 'top dog' teams finds itself in a post- season dogfight.
Timeout, River City!!
According to Head Football Coach Mike Wyatt, "on any team I've ever coached, when a situation like this presented itself, I've always given the team a week off to forget about football, re-focus, re-group and come back to practice refreshed, ready to play." On a post-game radio show after Friday night's loss in Dayton, Wyatt, who's had little to smile about in the last two weeks, cracked a grin when he said "I know that's a lot of 'R's' but I hope it translates to a lot of 'W's' before this thing winds down."
If The Rage were sucker-punched in the loss to Lubbock, it was a team flat out floored by knockout blows in the 67-46 re-match loss to the Dayton Warbirds on Friday night at the Nutter Center. With Dayton quarterback Steve Bellisari showing the kind of versatility he displayed as a premier Big 10 QB at Ohio State, the Warbirds put The Rage under the gun early, then withstood a furious River City second half comeback, to chalk up it's 7th victory of the season. With an automatic 'win' given to Dayton this week (a forfeit against the now-defunct New Jersey X- Treme) Coach Matt King's team now lives to see another day in what he termed "an up and down season" and joins The Rage and six other Atlantic Conference teams sharing post-season dreams.
In front of a final regular season home crowd, the Warbirds used a 5 yard touchdown run by Keith Brooks and a 2 yard TD plunge by running back Mike McConnell to take an early 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. It was after a Bellisari one yard quarterback sneak into the end zone, putting Dayton up 21-0, that Wyatt pulled starting quarterback Clay Groefsema and inserted reserve Anthony Fisher in an effort to "put some spark in the offense."
Trailing by the biggest deficit in any game this season, The Rage came alive with Fisher behind center, but the tell-tale sign of just how the Rage fortunes would fare was exemplified in the next series of downs. On first and 10 at the 25 yard line, three straight motion penalties pushed the ball back to the Rage 10 yard line. It's now first and 25 at the River City 10, but on the next play Fisher aired out a 35 yard strike to wide receiver Hurtis Chinn, who got behind the defender at the 5 and scooted into the end zone for the first Rage score of the night. A 40 yard touchdown pass, one step forward after three steps back, but when the usual automatic P-A-T from kicker Mike Matheny sailed wide left, Rage followers had the sinking feeling that the road funk clinging to River City jerseys was apt to hang around for another day.
Groefsema rebounded to end up 19 of 38 for the game with 6 touchdown passes and one interception. He returned to the game late in the second quarter after two straight Fisher interceptions prompted another chance at quarterback. The Rage rebounded to outscore the Warbirds 40-33 in the second half and showed the kind of effort it will need when it hits the field at Savvis Center for the Atlantic Conference Quarterfinals.
Saying late Sunday night that "the week away from football will give his team a chance to heal up and get back on track," Wyatt says the two season ending losses doesn't effect anything other than the teams record, and maybe some pride. "There was no real difference in 12 and 2, 11 and 3, or 10 and 4 other than numbers. It's been a long season and it's effects have worn on us as a team. It'll be good to take the days off and I'm confident when this team reassembles for practice next Monday, we'll all understand that what's coming up is what we've played for all year, and it again comes down to just finding ways to not hurt ourselves with turnovers and mental mistakes. We need to tackle better, focus on fundamental football and bear down. This is still a team that can go a long way in the post-season. The team that won the Atlantic East will be the one showing up at Savvis on July 10th."
Hurtis Chinn: 9 receptions for 130 yards and 4 touchdowns
Scott Pingel: 6 for 66 yards and one TD
Clay Groefsema: Connecting for 6 touchdown passes, including a pair of TD strikes to wide receiver Moses Regular
Sha-Ron Edwards: Explosive out of the backfield, averaging 5.5 yards per carry on Friday night
That's the offense that will be ready to go on July 10th, along with the usual steady and solid defense that was re-vamped after the season's fourth game. It's the best time of the year for any football franchise. It's playoff time, second city time, and for the River City Rage, it's second chance time. They plan to make the most of it. It may be a dog fight, but you know what they say about the size of the fight in the dog. And for a football team that's been barking up a tree at a title chance all year, and twice bitten, it's time now to bite back. Hard!
RAGE SET RECORD
The Rage on Friday night set an NIFL record for first downs in a season. Even as the team awaits statistics from the game on June 18th against the Lubbock Gunslingers, The Rage on Friday surpassed it's own record of 261 first downs set in 2004. Currently, the team owns the new league record with 265 first downs in 2005.
RAGE INJURY UPDATE
The Rage will benefit from the two week wait for playoff football. Starting Defensive Back and team leader Clarence 'CJ' Jones, a former Mizzou standout, has been sidelined for the last two games with an injury and according to Head Football Coach Mike Wyatt "will be back and rested up for the first playoff game. There's no doubt we've not only missed him in the backfield, but we've also missed our emotional team leader and captain. It'll be good to have him back and it's another reason I'm excited about the next game."
Rage Defensive End James Green, a starter and one of the team Sack leaders in 2005, did not make the trip to Dayton on Friday. Green was kept in St. Louis for what Wyatt called "pre-cautionary reasons" but like Jones, Green will be suited up and ready on July 10th!
QUOTES FROM RAGE HEAD FOOTBALL COACH MIKE WYATT
(On the playoffs)
"For players, coaches and fans, it's the most exciting time of the season. Every down, every play is magnified and a fumble, and interception, a penalty can turn a game around in your favour or send you home early. It's sudden-death football, winner- take - all, and players need to understand that. Sure, we hit a season end roadblock, but I've been around this team for the last 5 months, and I guarantee you these guys are ready to roll."
(On this year's team as compared to the one he coached in 2004)
"It's almost completely different in the sense that with almost the same personnel last year, we finished up 5 and 1 on the road and had a 4 and 4 record at Family Arena. I'd rather be in our position now, because the road to the title game still has to go through our house."
(On the two losses to end the season)
"I really believe that after we won the Atlantic East title, we may have subconsciously let up just a little, and I think that comes from guys who may have never been on winning teams before. It's motivation more than anything, and the talent is there on this team, has been all year, and after some end of season hard lessons, will resurface at just the right time. Mind you, we've got to work at it, work harder than we have all year, but for any team to get a championship, those things are necessary."
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National Indoor Football League Stories from June 27, 2005
- Rage take week off to re-group for NIFL's second season - RiverCity Rage
- Drillers fan in regular season finale - await playoffs - Beaumont Drillers
- Renegades to Host First Round of Playoffs - Rome Renegades
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