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PIFL Lehigh Valley Steelhawks

Steelhawks Head to Lions Den for Playoff Tilt

June 22, 2015 - Professional Indoor Football League (PIFL)
Lehigh Valley Steelhawks News Release


Allentown, PA: The Lehigh Valley Steelhawks (6-5, 5-5 PIFL) will take on the Columbus Lions (8-3) on Saturday night for the first round of the 2015 PIFL playoffs. Despite struggling in the last few games of the season, the Hawks have claimed the fourth and final playoff seed. Lehigh Valley will head down south to Georgia to take on the first placed Lions. The winner of this game heads to the PIFL Championship to face either the Richmond Raiders (2nd rank) or the Nashville Venom (3rd rank).

The Hawks head into the post season for the fourth year in a row and hope to make a back to back PIFL Championship game appearance. First the Hawks have to take down the Lions in the teams' third meeting of the season. Lehigh Valley won round one by a score of 46-43 in front of their home crowd, but Columbus got their revenge just a week later winning 45-35 in Columbus. There's plenty of familiarity between these two teams and with a trip to the Championship on the line this contest is sure to be intense.

The first meeting between the two was a back and forth offensive battle, but an interception return for a score by DB Jesse Cooper was a huge turning point in the game that led to a Steelhawks victory. However, the second game had the Lions dominating the Hawks on both sides of the ball. In fact it was the only game of the season in which the Steelhawks lost the turnover battle as they surrendered two interceptions and created no turnovers themselves.

This game will pit the league leading scoring defense, the Hawks, against the league leading scoring offense, the Lions. The Steelhawks' defense has been a dominate force all year and continue to hold the turnover margin lead in the league. DB Joe Powell (league leading 11 Interceptions) and DL Larry Ford (2nd in league for sacks-12.5) look to come up with some huge plays and give the Hawks' offense as many opportunities as possible.

The Lions offense is manned at Quarterback by Casey Kacz who is a leading Rookie of the Year candidate in the league. The Steelhawks will have to account for 6'7" Wide Receiver Terrance Ebagua who has been a matchup problem for opposing defenses all season.

Game time is scheduled for 8pm EST inside the Columbus Civic Center. The game can be heard live via the Columbus Lions website (www.columbuslions.net). Also visit the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks facebook and twitter for live updates of the game!

Can't get enough of the Hawks? 2016 Season Ticket packages will be available soon! For further information please call Lehigh Valley Steelhawks Executive Vice President and General Manager Mike Clark at (610) 282-3100, or visit our website at www.lvsteelhawks.com for the latest Steelhawks news! Reserve your seat now by calling the Steelhawks office at 610-282-3100.

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