Xplosion Conduct Inter-Squad Scrimmage
by Randy Snow
Published on March 11, 2007 under Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL)
Kalamazoo Xplosion
For the players still trying to make the Kalamazoo Xplosion roster, this was one last opportunity to impress the coaching staff. On Saturday night, March 10, the team conducted an inter-squad scrimmage at the Soccer Zone on Sprinkle Road in Portage.
The Soccer Zone is an indoor facility with three soccer fields. While the Xplosion was scrimmaging on one field, there were youth soccer games taking place on the other two fields. The crowd that was there watching the scrimmage was very much into the football action on the field. In fact, I noticed several fathers who were there to watch their kids play soccer who were actually paying more attention to the Xplosion scrimmage.
Xplosion head coach Bob Kubiak now has the difficult task of evaluating the 30+ players who participated in the scrimmage and setting his roster to 21 players for the regular season, as mandated by the league. The team's first game is on Saturday, March 24 on the road in Ohio against the Marion Mayhem.
Overall, Kubiak was pleased with the scrimmage. "We saw a lot of good thing out there tonight," said Kubiak. "I liked our intensity level, enthusiasm and work ethic. Guys were flying around on defense and we've got a lot of skilled players on offense."
One player who stood out during the scrimmage was wearing a Battle Creek Crunch helmet from last season, but it was also adorned with logos from some of the other teams that were in the league last season. As it turns out, it was WR/DB LJ Parker, who played for the Crunch in 2006. The other team logos had been added to his helmet when he played in the league's All-Star Game at the end of last season.
Team owner, Mike Johnson, also liked what he saw during the scrimmage. "I've been to about half of the practices and today was probably the best I've seen them play," Johnson said.
The next chance that the public will get to interact with the team will be on Wednesday night, March 14, at Old Burdick's Bar and Grill in the Radisson Plaza Hotel in downtown Kalamazoo. Beginning at 6:00 pm, fans can mingle with the players as well as members of the Xplosion Dance Team and get autographs. The team's mascot will also be introduced.
Continental Indoor Football League Stories from March 11, 2007
- Xplosion Conduct Inter-Squad Scrimmage - OSC Original by Randy Snow
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