Steamwheelers Put Flames Out of Fire, Win Ninth Straight
June 15, 2003 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Quad City Steamwheelers News Release
MOLINE, Ill. â All it took were a few inspirational words from Louisville Fire head coach Tommy Johnson to put some fire into the Quad City Steamwheelers, Saturday night at The MARK of the Quad Cities.
Johnson stated after a 42-31 loss to the âWheelers three weeks prior that, "we could have beat this team (Quad City) by 30 or 40 points had it not been for the penalties."
That's all that head coach Rich Ingold and the Steamwheelers (9-2) needed en route to their 55-30 bashing of the Fire. After this loss, Johnson stated that he was misquoted from the May 24th contest.
Despite another slow first quarter start, which had the âWheelers trailing 10-7 after the first quarter buzzer sounded, they got things rolling when they rattled off 28 straight points to take a 35-10 lead with 13:25 to go in the third quarter.
It started when QB Tony Zimmerman hooked up with WR/DB Jeff Hewitt for their second of four scores, on a 14-yard pass to give the âWheelers a 14-10 lead. This would be a lead that the âWheelers would not relinquish.
Zimmerman finished the night 20-of-42 for 334 yards, seven touchdowns and one interception. The interception was his fourth on the year. Zimmerman stayed on pace to break the season record for touchdowns thrown, bringing his season total to 63 and leaving him just 23 shy of the record of 86 set by Tennessee Valley Vipers former QB Matt Sauk.
Zimmerman will just need to average just over four touchdowns a game to tie the record.
Hewitt had an Ironman performance, catching eight passes for 116 yards, four touchdowns while adding a tackle on defense. Ingold made a few changes in his line-up this week, moving FB/LB Asa Francis to the DS position, while having OL/DL 6'6" Mike Schaefer at the jack linebacker position for periods of the game.
The moves paid off as Francis earned Game MVP and ADT Defensive Player of the Game honors for his seven tackle, three sacks for a loss of nine yards (one of which went for a safety), a forced fumble and assisted tackle for a loss of one yard.
Schaefer also kept Fire QB Josh Rogers in the pocket long enough to allow for the Steamwheelers defensive line to get to him. Schaefer's 6'6" frame plus his wingspan left very little options in the middle of the field. Rogers finished the game 14-of-28 for 223 yards, three for touchdowns. He completed seven of those passes to OS Torrey Day for 148 yards and all three touchdowns.
His counterpart OS Ira Gooch caught six passes for 115 yards and a touchdown. Gooch also returned four kickoffs for 62 yards and two missed field goals for 25 yards. Gooch went over the 1,000 receiving yards plateau for the season.
The Steamwheelers will only need one of two things to happen in order to qualify for the playoffs. All they will have to do now is win one of their last five games or have the Peoria Pirates lose two games. Peoria played at Hawaii late Saturday night.
The âWheelers ousted the Fire as the fell to 3-8, allowing them to finish at best with an 8-8 record and the âWheelers all ready having nine. The âWheelers ousted the Cincinnati Swarm with a win tonight as they hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Swarm after defeating them the previous two weeks.
The Steamwheelers will now take a much needed week off, as they have their "BYE" week for next week and will travel to beautiful Hawaii to take on the third place (in the National Conference going into tonight's tilt with the Peoria Pirates) Hawaiian Islanders on June 28th. They will stay on the road the following week, July 6th to take on the Green Bay Blizzard.
After a 28-day break from The MARK, the âWheelers will finally return home to take on the San Diego Riptide at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are still available and can be purchased at The MARK box office or through TicketMaster at www.ticketmaster.com or by calling 563.326.1111.
Don't forget that former Steamwheelers FB/LB Frank Trentadue and the Arizona Rattlers will take on the Tampa Bay Storm next Sunday evening, June 22nd in a battle for the James Foster Cup (a.k.a. the owner of the Steamwheelers and Arena Football founder) and the rights to the title of ArenaBowl XVII title. The game will air on NBC at 4 p.m. local time.
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