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Raptors Move On to Semi Finals

July 16, 2006 - United Indoor Football Association (UIF)
Rock River Raptors News Release


The Rock River Raptors advanced to the 2006 UIF Semi-Finals after a nail biting 37-33 win over the Sioux City Bandits at the MetroCentre on Saturday night.

The win moves the Raptors record to 12-4 on a season and a date in the final four on Saturday, July 22nd, 2006 in Kentucky against the Lexington Horsemen., who will be coming off a bye week and sport a record of 13-2.

In fact, in both match-ups this season between the Horsemen and the Raptors, Rock River has won both times.

The other semi-final match-up pits top-seeded Sioux Falls against fifth-seeded Evansville, who defeated fourth-seeded Omaha 37-15 at the "Slaughterhouse"

The Bandits end the season with a 6-10 record and made the Raptors earn their ticket to the semi-finals.

An interception of a Ryan Aulenbacher pass by Sioux City's John Zevenbergen in the Raptors end-zone gave the Bandits new life as Zevenbergen returned the ball to the Sioux City 18-yard line with 1:34 left in the game and the Bandits trailing 37-33..

The Bandits drove the ball to the Raptors 10-yard line but a final pass from quarterback Antoine Taylor to Cori Johnson was incomplete and the Raptors had their date in the semi-finals. Aulenbacher was filling in for Ben Sankey, who suffered an ankle injury right before half-time.

Sioux City jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead early in the first quarter after the Raptors turned the ball over on downs on four plays on their first series of the game.

Kicker Justin Green's 30-yard field goal capped a five-play drive and gave the Bandits the early lead.

The lead was short-live as Sankey drove the Raptors 39-yards on five plays on their next possession and hit Ade Adeyemo with an eight-yard touchdown pass and after Dillon Pieffer's extra-point kick, the Raptors led 7-3.

Sioux City got their first touchdown of the night on the next series as Taylor scored on a two-yard run to give the Bandits a 10-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The Raptors took over in the second quarter as they outscored the Bandits 27-7 and took a 34-17 lead into intermission. Two five-yard touchdown runs by Randy Bell, a 15-yard touchdown pass from Sankey to McArdle and a 20-yard scoring strike from Aulenbacher to Adeyemo gave the Raptors the lead.

Sioux City's second quarter points came on a eight-yard pass from Taylor to Mario Patton.

Like so many games in the past for the Raptors this season, the defenses for both teams came to play in the second half as the Bandits out-scored the Raptors 16-3 over the final two quarters. Sankey completed 8-14 passes for 70 yards until he was forced from the game in the second quarter.

Aulenbacher threw 17 passes and completed 10 of them for 80 yards and one interception.

Adeyemo was the leading receiver for the Raptors as he caught six passes for 61 yards. McArdle and Jeremiah Thompson caught five passes each for 40 and 36 yards.

Fernandez Shaw paced the Raptors defense with 6.5 tackles. Brandon Johnson and Ty Myers each came up with interceptions.

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United Indoor Football Association Stories from July 16, 2006


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