Thunderhawks Rally To Defeat Raiders, 59-55
March 20, 2010 - Indoor Football League (IFL)
West Michigan Thunderhawks News Release
Grand Rapids, Michigan - With just under a minute to play in the first half of their Indoor Football League contest against the visiting Rochester Raiders, West Michigan was flying high with a 34-14 lead. Thirty seconds later the ThunderHawks were the ones looking for shelter after the visitors cut the lead to 34-28 at halftime. The hosts never quite regained their early form, but regrouped for a nail-biting 59-55 win at DeltaPlex Arena on Friday night.
Rochester's Jamil Porter, held to 14 yards on four carries in the opening half, capped a wild Raiders rally when his third touchdown run after the break gave the guests a 55-51 lead with 1:16 remaining. Porter's counterpart, `Hawks running back Robert Height, did him one better, scampering across the goal line for his fourth score of the night with 13 seconds left to put the hosts back in front 58-55.
Rochester still had a chance to drive for at least a game-tying field goal attempt, but their failure to advance the ensuing kickoff out of their end zone resulted in a Rouge, an IFL rule awarding a point to the kicking team when that occurs. Now needing a touchdown, the Raiders final desperation heave fell incomplete, and West Michigan could finally exhale with their first 2-0 start in franchise history.
While Height stole the spotlight with his late-game heroics, the real story of the game was the indoor football debut of ThunderHawks quarterback Brad Iciek. The former Grandville prep star who led Grand Valley State to the Division II National Championship game last fall, simply would not allow his team to lose.
Trailing by four points in the final minute of play, the ThunderHawks faced a fourth-and-17 from their own 19 yard line. Iciek dropped back to pass and fired a laser to former Lakers teammate Terry Mitchell for an 18-yard gain and a first down. Four plays later, Height was mobbed in the end zone after his dramatic 6-yard burst.
It was Iciek who got West Michigan off to a 20-7 first quarter lead with 8-of-9 accuracy and a pair of scoring tosses to Bryan Pray and Nathan Fricke. The Raiders answered the Pray touchdown with a pass from Perry Patterson to Terry Grosetti, briefly tying the game 7-7. Height's first scoring jaunt from 4 yards out preceded the Fricke reception.
Patterson again found Grosetti open in the back of the end zone to narrow the gap to 20-14 before Height capped an 8-play, 43-yard drive with a 2-yard sprint to restore the cushion to 27-14.
An Amp Boone interception of Patterson then set up Iciek's 8-yard scoring strike to Emmanuel Spann and the hosts were cruising at 34-14. Patterson fired a 3-yard bullet through traffic to Kevin Concepcion for a score and nine seconds later the Raiders' Chris Johnson recovered a `Hawks fumble and returned it 9 yards for the final score before intermission.
Porter gave Rochester its first lead of the night at 35-34 on a 1-yard plunge but West Michigan kicker David Hendrix reclaimed the lead for the ThunderHawks with a 34-yard field goal.
Patterson and Concepcion hooked up for a 6-yard score late in the third quarter and the action was just heating up with the Raiders leading 41-37. The lead was again short-lived as Iciek dumped an innocent-looking pass off to Height in the flat, which he promptly turned into an electrifying 40-yard dash for the cash as the home team entered the final frame with a fragile 44-41 edge.
The `Hawks then got another boost from their defensive corps as linebacker Doug Emery picked off Patterson and returned it to the Raiders 10 yard line. Two plays later, Iciek lobbed a pass to the back corner of the end zone where Pray, fully extended, leapt clear over the wall into the Rochester bench. Pray emerged with the ball and instantly became a leading candidate for the IFL's best catch of the year award.
The 51-41 lead almost seemed safe until Porter tallied back-to-back scoring runs of 4 and 8 yards and the lead had changed hands for the fifth time in the second half. But this epic battle had one more plot twist.
Iciek looked every bit a seasoned indoor veteran, finishing the night 28-of-42 for 291 yards and 5 touchdowns with one interception. Five different receivers had at least four catches for the hosts as Fricke (7-58-1), Spann (6-51-1), Pray (5-67-2), Height (5-54-1) and Mitchell (4-49-0) kept the Raiders' secondary off balance.
Height added 30 yards rushing and three scores on 10 lugs, giving the triple-threat Northwood University product a whopping all-purpose production of 321 yards on 31 touches (10.3 yds/touch) and 7 TD in just two games.
Defensively, the TunderHawks were led by Boone's 11 stops from the secondary. Aric Morris chipped in seven stops and James Skodak had 6 involvements. Boone (1st), Morris (2nd) and Emery (2nd) all had interceptions as West Michigan has already recorded seven aerial thefts on the young season. Greg Marshall and T.J. Smith each notched a sack.
The Raiders outrushed the `Hawks 54-31, led By Porter's 44 yards on 13 carries with three scores. Quarterback Perry Patterson hit 17-of-32 attempts for 163 yards and four scores, but suffered three costly picks, two of which led to West Michigan touchdowns.
Patterson's receiving corps consisted of Porter (6-48-0), Chris Carter (4-49-0), Grosetti (4-30-2), Concepcion (2-9-2) and Omar Baker (1-27-0).
Linebacker Brenton Brady led Rochester with an inspired effort, recording 11 tackles, (1.5 for loss) and forcing a fumble (which led directly to a Raiders score) as he doled out several punishing hits on the night. Tarryl Gano added 9 stops and Chris Johnson made 7 tackles. P.J. Piskorek chipped in an interception.
Both teams lost a starting defensive back when Rochester's Darius Smith and West Michigan's Richard Newsome were both ejected late in the second quarter with offsetting personal fouls.
It was West Michigan's first victory over the Raiders in four tries. The two former members of the Continental Indoor Football League both joined the IFL last season. The two Atlantic East Division foes will tangle again in just over a week as Rochester will make a return trip to the DeltaPlex Arena for a Sunday Matinee on March 28th. Kickoff is set for 3:00 p.m.
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