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IFL Indoor Football League

Strong competitors begin to pull away from the competition

March 17, 2011 - Indoor Football League (IFL) News Release


Richmond, VA: The Indoor Football League's fourth week of competition proved to be an exciting one. Teams are beginning to pull away as strong competitors while other teams are putting up strong fights to remain competitive.

Week 4 for the Indoor Football League began in the Sovereign Center where the Reading Express hosted the Bloomington Extreme. From the beginning of the game it was apparent that Bloomington showed up to dominate the game. Bloomington Extreme QB Rocky Hinds threw for 233 yards and 5 touchdowns and had the only rushing touchdown for the team. All 233 yards in the air from Hinds were spread throughout 5 receivers, with touchdowns from Glenn Johnson, 1 touchdown, Johnny Gray, 1 touchdown, and James Walton, 3 touchdowns. Though Bloomington had several slip-ups, 2 interceptions and 2 fumbles, the Reading Express were not able to take advantage of these errors. Reading's QB Chris Malleo passed for 149 yards with 2 touchdowns; these 2 touchdowns were the only 2 for the Reading Express. Reading Express had more rushing yards than Bloomington, 72-58; however, Reading was outscored every quarter, except for the third quarter which neither team scored in, by a minimum of 7 points, which providing the Bloomington Extreme with the advantage and closing score of 44-14.

The La Crosse Spartans visited the Omaha Beef in hopes of getting their first win of the season and the Beef hoping to maintain their winning streak. The Beef started off strong, not allowing the Spartans to get their first score until the third quarter of the game. Beef QB James McNear passed for 215 yards and 5 touchdowns, with only 1 interception. Though the Beef's did not have any rushing touchdowns, their rushing game was very productive with a total of 80 yards versus the Spartans' 65 rushing yards. The La Crosse Spartans had Buddy Rivera with 60 passing yards and 2 touchdowns and Ryan Maiuri with 26 passing yards. Between the 2 QBs there were 3 interceptions, which the Beef were able to create an advantage off of. Throughout the game, the Omaha Beef were able to maintain control and victory of the game with an ending score of 20-40, Beef.

The Green Bay Blizzard blew over to the Wichita Wild on Saturday evening looking to defeat the Wild. Wichita took an early lead in the game, outscoring the Blizzard 21-14 in the first quarter. Wichita QB Shane Mascarenas passed for 205 yards and 5 touchdowns; however, the Wild was plagued with 4 interceptions, 1 lost fumble, and a stagnant rush game, which only produced 8 yards. Though the Blizzard had a slow start, they found their rhythm and were able to generate 26 rushing yards with 2 touchdowns coming from Andrew Verboncouer. Blizzard QB Willie Copeland passed for 276 yards and 4 touchdowns with only 1 interception. Even though, the Wichita Wild were able to sack Blizzard QB Willie Copeland 3 times, it was not enough to overcome the other errors, which allowed the Blizzard to come out victorious, 55-41.

Saturday evening the Fairbanks Grizzlies journeyed to the Toyota Center to battle the Tri-Cities Fever. The Grizzlies began strong, holding the lead until the final minute of the second quarter. The Grizzlies utilized QB Donovan Porterie, who passed for 51 yards and 1 touchdown, and Eric Taylor, who helped with 1 passing touchdown, 2 rushing touchdowns, and 11 receiving yards. Though the Grizzlies only lost 1 of the 2 fumbles, they also had 2 interceptions, which gave the Fever 47 yards. On top of the 47 yards from interceptions, the Fever's QBs had to step up because the Grizzlies defense stunted the Fever's rush game, only allowing negative rushing yardage. Antwon Young passed for 35 yards, and Houston Lillard passed for 129 yards and 7 touchdowns. The teams were evenly matched; however, the Tri-Cities Fever was able to make the final push to maintain their advantage over the Grizzlies, 35-50.

The Arizona Adrenaline hosted the Colorado Ice Saturday night looking for their first win of the season. The Arizona Adrenaline had Jaime Cota and Keith Poole with a total of 142 passing yards and 3 passing touchdowns, and only 2 interceptions. The offense of the Colorado Ice offense had a stronger game because they were able to rush for 34 yards versus the Adrenaline's 5 yards. The Ice utilized Kenneth Witter, David Knighton, and Duane Brooks to pass for 79 yards, 5 touchdowns with only 1 interception. The two teams put up a strong battle with the lead changing 4 times in the first half; however, the Colorado Ice were able to pull away to defeat the Arizona Adrenaline.

The final game of the weekend was between the Amarillo Venom at the Bricktown Brawlers. The Venom led in the first quarter until the final seconds of the second quarter. The Venom had X'Zavier Bloodsaw and Derek Rasmussen pass for a total of 116 passing yards with 1 touchdown and 3 interceptions. As a team the Venom played a very strong game, they recovered 2 fumbles, sacked the Brawlers' QB 6 times and had a total of 146 offensive yards; however, the Bricktown Brawlers were able to counter the great efforts of the Venom. QB Nate Samas of the Brawlers delivered 13 completions for 150 yards and 2 touchdowns. Ben Birmingham rushed for 1 touchdown, and Brawlers' defense had 3 sacks of their own. The game came down to the winning team being able to overcome the mistakes of the game and taking advantage of their time of possession, which the Bricktown Brawlers did, closing out the game with a score of 20-29, Brawlers.

Coming up Monday night will be the Wenatchee Valley Venom at the Sioux Falls Storm at 7:05pm to round out Week 4 for the Indoor Football League.

All IFL games can be watched live on the internet through America One networks. Just click the watch live coverage link located on our homepage at www.goifl.com.

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Indoor Football League Stories from March 17, 2011


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