Rage are for real; looking down at rest of division
The River City Rage of the NIFL were on the alert Saturday night at The Family Arena; The Dayton Warbirds were flying in, loaded with plenty of Division-I college talent, a number of former Ohio State players, and even a few ex-NFL names gracing the roster. An upstart team, on a 3 game winning streak, led by former St. Louis Ram Steve Bellisari at quarterback. They also boasted the NIFL’s number three overall scoring offense; Bellisari, the NIFL’s leading rusher; a team averaging 59 points per game and ready to challenge for the top spot in the Atlantic East Division.
But poised and ready on the turf of Family Arena was a defense that is fast becoming the talk of the NIFL. A revamped, determined and merciless “D” that lately has used a first quarter sack or interception to set the tone for the rest of the game. Facing a hyped- up array of offensive firepower last weekend, The Rage defended it’s turf and employed a few long range weapons of it’s own to bring down the Warbirds 48-37 in front of a roaring crowd to improve it’s home record to 5-0 on the 2005 season!
“From the opening kick-off, we came to play football, while they seemed to come into the game with a bit of a chip on their shoulder,” stated Rage Head Football Coach Mike Wyatt. “Dayton’s focus may have been off a bit due to the problems regarding their Head Coach being suspended. But hey, I don’t make the rules, but the rules are made to be followed. If they’re not, you have nothing but anarchy; the league did the only thing it could do in a situation like that.”
That “situation” was prompted by the fact that The Rage did not receive game tape on the Warbirds/Cincinnati game played on Monday. League rules stipulate that the teams send out game tape by next-day air the next working day following the game. By Wednesday late afternoon, The Rage had not received the game tape and after approaching the league with a complaint, Coach Wyatt and his assistants were notified that Warbird’s Head Coach Matt King would be suspended, the team fined $500, and King would forfiet one game check. Matt King chose not to make the trip to St. Louis and Assistant Coach Carl Allen was tapped to serve as Acting Head Coach in his stead.
So in a game already stirred up by controversy and perhaps hard feelings from the start, Dayton’s loss of focus was evident from it’s first play from scrimmage. Operating from the shotgun formation, Bellisari fired a 21-yard pass that was picked off by Rage Defensive Back Maurice McClain at the River City 3 yard line, who returned the ball 15 yards to the River City 18. Five plays later, the Rage were on the scoreboard. Quarterback Clay Groefsema rifled a 14-yard scoring strike to Wide Receiver Moses Regular; newly returned kicker Jerry Lakin split the uprights and the Rage got the jump on Dayton 7-0.
Early in the game, with plenty of football yet to be played, the entire scope of this divisional showdown may well have been scoped out on two plays about 10 seconds apart. Facing second and 10 at the Rage 12 yard line and looking to go even up, Bellisari’s pass was intercepted by Brandon Gregory at the goal line. And on the first play from scrimmage, Rage quarterback Clay Groefsema aired out a 45-yard rainbow that wide receiver Hurtis Chinn caught on the run at the 10 yard line and took into the end zone. A failed P-A-T, but the dye was cast for both teams on that one series of downs.
Dayton regrouped, and finally put a drive together that resulted in a 26 yard field goal from kicker Justin McClain and the first quarter ended with The Rage in front, 13-3.
The Rage secondary managed to shut off Bellisari from his primary wide receivers Maurice Lee and Sonte Wong during several drives in the first quarter, but good teams find the groove after a while and Dayton proved no exception. At 12:49 of the second quarter, Bellisari hooked up with Anthony Tyus on a 30-yard pass play that found paydirt. McClain booted it through, and suddenly it was a ballgame at 13-10.
A Rage drive was stalled when Jerry Lakin missed a 48 yard field goal attempt, Dayton’s McClain was wide right on a 57 yard shot, and The Rage got a break when a Groefsema interception by Demetrius Ross was offset by a roughing the passer penalty against the Warbirds. But Wyatt’s pre-game admonition to his team regarding turnovers was evident just 3 plays later when Running Back Sha-Ron Edwards was hit at the 6 yard line, coughed up the ball, and an almost certain Rage touchdown was suddenly a 44 yard return for a TD by Dayton lineman Brandon Tisdale. McClain’s extra point through the uprights gave the Warbirds a 17-13 lead with just under 3 minutes to play in the half.
While Elvis impersonators waited in the wings for the halftime contest, there was more rock and roll to be played out on the field before both teams surrendered the turf to the King-like Wannabe’s.
Rage return man Brandon Gregory took the ensuing kick-off at the goal line and returned it 18 yards. A Groefsema to Scott Pingel pass play was good for 24 and a first down, and on first and goal, Groefsema scrambled 8 yards into the end zone and The Rage regained the lead.
The lead was short lived, however. A 20-17 Rage advantage evaporated in a hurry when a 7-play drive by Dayton was rewarded with a 3 yard TD pass from Bellisari to former Ohio State Buckeye Maurice Lee. McClain’s kick was good as time expired and the half ended with the Warbirds flying high, re-loaded and in the lead at 24- 20.
“We needed to focus on not hurting ourselves in the second half,” said Wyatt, “as far as defensive adjustments, we really didn’t need to do anything different. The fumble by Sha-Ron was a 14-point swing and you can’t do that against a team like Dayton and expect to win the game. So, that was the extent of our re-vamping, so to speak, avoiding the fumble, the interception, the penalty that could end up biting us in the end.”
Two third quarter scores and an air tight defense with constant pressure on a , now rattled, Bellisari proved to be the difference in the second half. Taking the opening second half kick-off, The Rage used only 3 plays to go 31 yards and regain the lead. It was an 18 yard touchdown pass from Groefsema to Scott Pingel that gave the team a lead it would never relinquish!
Beset by a Rage defensive line determined to shut him down, Bellisari was unable to show the form that had seen him come into the game Saturday as the NIFL’s leading rusher. After throwing three straight incompletions, Bellisari gave way to kicker Justin McClain who was wide right on a 36 yard field goal try.
Six plays later, The Rage hit the jackpot again, this time on a Groefsema bootleg play from 2 yards out. Kick up, kick good, and The Rage had a commanding 34-24 lead.
Four plays into the final quarter, the game was iced! On third and goal from the 3-yard line, Groefsema showed the type of versatility that has been his forte all season long, and why from this point on, he is worthy of the type of pre-game hype that had been showered on Steve Bellisari. Taking the center snap, and then behind blocking from an offensive line that has been solid and steady all year, Clay dove into the end zone with the score that accented 21 unanswered points and sent the Dayton Warbirds sputtering to the ground.
End of story, end of controversy, and late in the forth quarter, the end of Bellisari’s unimpressive night as he was replaced by reserve quarterback Kerrick Cooper. Bellisari completed just 9 of 23 passes for 90 yards, was picked off twice and left the game having rushed for only 23 yards. He did manage to throw 2 touchdown passes.
The Groefsema to Pingel combination hooked up later in the quarter for another score, this one an 8-yard TD strike. That score was offset by 2 Dayton touchdowns, one a short, 2 yard pop from Cooper to Wide Receiver Brandon Pedraza, the other a 9 yard rush from former San Francisco 49’er Pepe Pearson with just over a minute to play.
“This defense deserves a lot of credit,” said Wyatt after the game, “Dayton came in averaging 59 points per game and we all but shut them down.” “Yeah, they score 37 on us, but 7 of those points came on an offensiv e fumble that was returned for the TD, so that’s not on the “D”. I’m happy with the play of the secondary, especially Clarence Jones. He was all over the field and may have played his best game of the season, and at just the right time.”
With the win, the Rage put some distance between themselves and the Dayton Warbirds. The Rage currently lead the Atlantic East with a record of 7-1, Dayton fell to 5-3, Cincinnati is 4-3 on the year and hapless New Jersey is still waiting for it’s first victory of 2005.
The Rage play the Fayetteville Guard on Saturday night in Fayetteville, North Carolina. That game is a rematch of the season opener for both teams some 8 weeks ago, when the Rage got the year underway with a close 46-43 win. The game can be heard on 1380 ESPN Radio in St. Louis and audio-streamed on both the ESPN and Ragefootball.com websites. Kick-off is slated for 6:05 pm, St. Louis time.
