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Raptors down Greyhounds

July 9, 2006 - United Indoor Football Association (UIF)
Rock River Raptors News Release


The Rock River Raptors ends the 2006 UIF regular season with a 55-48 win over the Ohio Valley Greyhounds at the MetroCentre on Youth Hat Night. With the win, the Raptors move their record to 11-4 on the season and will host the Sioux City Bandits in the first round of the UIF play-offs on July 15th at the MetroCentre. More impressive is that on April 29th, after a 41-30 home loss to the Omaha Beef. Rock River saw their record fall to 3-3. The Raptors went on to reel off eight wins out of their last nine games to secure not only their first Central Division title but the third seed in the play-offs. The Greyhounds end the season with a 6-9 record and needed a win over Rock River to secure a berth in the post-season. Rock River jumped out to an early 7-0 lead on their first drive. After Billy Cook returned the opening kick-off from Ryan Sperlazza 17 yards, the Raptors needed just seven plays to go 33 yards and Ben Sankey welcomed wide receiver Luke McArdle back to the Raptors' line-up with a six-yard scoring strike. Dillon Pieffer's extra-point kick made the score 7-0 with almost five minutes gone in the game. McArdle returned to the Raptors line-up after suffering a foot injury earlier in the season. Ohio Valley came right back and scored on an eight-play 38-yard drive that culminated with Antonio King's two-yard touchdown run. Sperlazza's kick tied the game at 7-7. The two teams ended the quarter by trading touchdowns and the Raptors led 14-13 at the end of one quarter. Jeremiah Thompson caught a five-yard scoring pass from Sankey and Greyhounds signal caller Matt Kohn found Will Austin for a two-yard touchdown pass. The Raptors blocked the extra-point kick. Rock River started to pull away a little bit in the second quarter as they out-scored the Greyhounds 28-13 to take a 42-26 lead at half-time. Randy Bell got the Raptors second quarter scoring started as he hit pay-dirt from five yards out to make the score 21-13 in favor of Rock River. Ohio Valley made the score 21-20 as Kohn completed a nine-yard touchdown pass to Antonio King. Rock River was able to get the momentum right back as Bell took Sperlazza's kick and raced 50 yards for a touchdown and after's Pieffer's kick it was 28-20 in favor of the Raptors. The McArdle to Sankey connection worked two more times in the second quarter as the duo hooked up from 39 and seven yards. The defenses for both teams tighten up in the third quarter as the Raptors pitched a shut-out and score 10 points of their own to take a 52-26 lead into the final quarter. Pieffer connected on a 28 yard field goal and Bell busted through the Greyhounds "D" to score on a 28 yard run. One thing that Rock River has found out the last three games in the UIF is that no fourth quarter lead is safe. Ohio Valley out-scored Rock River 22-3 to cut the Raptors lead to the final margin of 55-48. Pieffer's 15-yard field goal with 8:07 left in the game was the final points scored by the Raptors. Sankey ended the night completing 11 out of 18 passes for 90 yards and four touchdown passes. McArdle caught four of those passes for 59 yards. Thompson caught four passes for 15 yards. Bell ended the night with 56 yards on 12 carried and two touchdowns. Bell had a fantastic night returning kicks as he returned three kicks for 115 yards. Cook also returned three kicks for 79 yards. Kohn completed 26 of 47 passes for 236 yards and six touchdown passes. Austin was his favorite target as he hauled in 12 passes for 116 yards and three touchdowns.

RAPTOR NOTES

- Hey kids, do you want to learn how to play football the Raptors way. Then sign up for the first annual Junior Raptors training camp. The camp is set for Sunday, July 16th from 9:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. at the MetroCentre. The cost of the camp is $50.00 and is for boys and girl's ages 5-17. The camp includes instruction from Raptors players and coaches, a camp t-shirt and lunch. To sign-up, just stop into the Raptors office located at 110 North Main Street in Rockford. For more info, call the Raptors (815)965-7000 Deadline to sign-up is July 14th at 5:00 p.m.

- Raptor fans, head to RBI's on Monday from 5-6 p.m. for "Rappin' with Coach Richards" on WTJK 1380-AM "The Jock". Andy Gannon and Kyle Jacobs will talk to the coach about the win over Ohio Valley and pre-view the upcoming UIF play-offs. At 6 p.m., Fans will have the chance to dine with the Raptors players and coaches and get autographs and talk Raptor football. RBI's is located at 3870 North Perryville Road in Rockford.

- Individual play-off tickets are on sale now by calling the MetroCentre box office at (815)968-5222 or by logging on to www.centreevents.com. Group tickets are also on sale by contacting Director of Ticket Sales Laura Houston in the Raptors office at (815)965-7000.



United Indoor Football Association Stories from July 9, 2006


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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