Post by David on Apr 21, 2016 8:32:56 GMT -8
Spokane Empire at Tri-Cities Fever
What: Spokane takes on in-state rival Tri-Cities in the second installment of the "Civil Turf War."
When: Saturday, April 23, 7 p.m. (PT).
Where: Toyota Center, Kennewick, Washington
Empire Media: Radio - 700/1080 AM ESPN
National Media: Stream (paid subscription) - IFL Live TV
This Season: February 20 - Empire 60, Fever 51
Series History: Empire lead 1-0 (1-0 in Tri-Cities).
Note: This is the first of back-to-back home games between the Empire and the Fever.
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HELPFUL LINKS
Indoor Football League Rules
Indoor Football League Schedule and Results 2016
Spokane Empire Schedule 2016
IFL Franchises and Links
The Empire are 5-1 overall, 2-1 on the road and 2-1 in conference play. Spokane is coming off a 54-34 road win over the Iowa Barnstormers on April 16. They are averaging 58.8 points per game (2nd in IFL) and are allowing 50.5 points per game (6th). The Empire are first in the Intense Conference.
The Fever are 3-4 overall, 2-2 at home and 3-2 in conference play. Tri-Cities is coming off a 39-31 road win over the Colorado Crush on April 15. They are averaging 41.3 points per game (8th) and are allowing 42.3 points per game (2nd). The Fever are fourth in the Intense Conference.
BREAKDOWN
Total Yards per Game - Empire 255.2; Fever 218.0
Pass Yards per Game - Empire 159.8; Fever 168.0
Rush Yards per Game - Empire 95.3; Fever 50.0
3rd Down Conversion - Empire 51.2%; Fever 36.2%
4th Down Conversion - Empire 45.5%; Fever 50.0%
Total Tackles - Empire 266; Fever 227
Tackles for Loss - Empire 35; Fever 30
Total Sacks - Empire 12.0; Fever 8.0
Fumble Recoveries - Empire 4; Fever 6
Interceptions - Empire 10; Fever 14
SPOKANE EMPIRE
Empire WR Carl Sims (image credit: Erik Smith Photography)
ROSTER
# - name (pos)
1 - Samuel Charles (WR)
2 - Lorenzo White Jr. (DB)
3 - Josh Ferguson (DB)
4 - Carl Sims (WR)
5 - Tyree Robinson (DB)
7 - Demetruce McNeal (DB/KR)
8 - Aaron Aiken (QB)
11 - Charles Dowdell (QB)
12 - Toby Jackson (DL)
16 - Robert Brown (DB)
17 - Pasquale Vacchio (LB)
18 - Trevor Kennedy (OS)
22 - Steven Wakefield (K)
30 - Andrew Pierce (RB)
44 - Brett Bowers (DL)
47 - Nick Haag (LB)
56 - Dave Lefotu (OL)
62 - Dominique Duster (DL)
70 - Mike Trice (OL)
72 - Kyle Fischer (OL)
76 - Michael Boyefio (OL)
78 - Brandon Haskin (OL)
80 - Jefferson "JJ" Hayes (WR)
88 - Justin Helwege (WR)
93 - Benjamin Perry (DL)
95 - Bryon Bennett (DL)
Adam Shackleford - Head Coach
Cleveland Pratt - Assistant Head Coach
Ameer Ismail - Defensive Coordinator
STATISTICAL LEADERS
Passing Yards - Charles Dowdell 985
Passing TDs - Charles Dowdell 28
Passing INTs - Charles Dowdell 4
Rushing Yards - Trevor Kennedy 376
Rushing TDs - Trevor Kennedy 15
Receptions - JJ Hayes 31
Receiving Yards - JJ Hayes 368
Receiving TDs - Carl Sims 10
Tackles - Nick Haag 47.5
Sacks - Bryon Bennett 3.5
Interceptions - Josh Ferguson/Demetruce McNeal 3
KO Return Ave - Robert Brown 19.2
KO Return TDs - Trevor Kennedy 1
TRI-CITIES FEVER
Fever DB Dee Maggitt (image credit: Tri-Cities Fever / Facebook)
ROSTER
# - name (pos)
1 - DeJay Lester (WR)
2 - Bradley Njoku (DB)
3 - Stephen Godbolt (DB)
4 - Pat McCain (QB)
6 - Brent Michaels (RB)
7 - Rob Brown (RB)
8 - Akeem Foster (WR)
10 - Aaron Ray (DB)
11 - Hunter Wanket (QB)
12 - Daniel Zeidman (K)
14 - Austen Alber (DL)
17 - Sheldon Galloway (WR)
20 - Dee Maggitt (DB)
21 - Boubacar Cissoko (DB)
22 - Brandon Wilson (LB)
24 - DeJuan Miller (WR)
27 - Leon Jackson (LB)
34 - Marcell Coke Jr. (LB)
40 - Brandon Rankin (DL)
56 - Viondy Merisma (OL)
59 - Jarius Spain (OL)
60 - Jarad Martin (OL)
72 - Rodrick Gladney (OL)
90 - Maurice Chavis (DL)
91 - Roosevelt Holliday (DL)
96 - Omoniyi Adebayo (DL)
Ryan Lingenfelder - Head Coach
Brian Schmidt - Offensive Coordinator
Shon King - Defensive Backs & Special Teams
STATISTICAL LEADERS
Passing Yards - Hunter Wanket 760
Passing TDs - Pat McCain 14
Passing INTs - Pat McCain 3
Rushing Yards - Pat McCain 144
Rushing TDs - Pat McCain 8
Receptions - DeJuan Miller 34
Receiving Yards - DeJuan Miller 415
Receiving TDs - Akeem Foster 8
Tackles - Boubacar Cissoko 31.0
Sacks - Brandon Wilson 3.0
Interceptions - Dee Maggitt 5
KO Return Ave - Dee Maggitt 21.1
KO Return TDs - Dee Maggitt 1
DAVID'S TAKES
SPOKANE:
Spokane is one of the hottest teams in the IFL, winning three straight games and leading the Intense Conference with a 5-1 record. Their 54-34 victory over the Iowa Barnstormers last Saturday was a game that had all the makings of a letdown, but the Empire prevailed thanks to key defensive stops and a strong passing game led by QB Charles Dowdell. Dowdell was missing WR JJ Hayes out of the lineup due to Hayes' prior commitment in Chicago taking a police academy exam, resulting in big contributions from WRs Samuel Charles, Justin Helwege, and Carl Sims. Dowdell was precise in the passing game, picking apart the Barnstormers defense on 15/20 passes for 207 yards and 5 touchdowns. RB Trevor Kennedy didn't have a repeat performance of running wild against the Barnstormers, but he did keep his streak of consecutive games with a rushing touchdown alive (6 games), giving him a total of 15 rushing touchdowns on the season. Kennedy also had a key kickoff return for a touchdown, extending the Empire's lead late in the 4th Quarter and proved to be the game changer. On defense, the Empire got key contributions from LB Nick Haag (12.0 total tackles), and two critical interceptions by DBs Josh Ferguson and Tyree Robinson.
This week, the Empire return to the site of their first ever IFL game: Kennewick, WA. The Fever are likely to want revenge for their season opening loss against Spokane back in February. Spokane faces a Fever defense that's one of the best in the IFL, ranking 4th in Scoring Defense and 2nd in passing defense. Tri-Cities has done an incredible job of handling opposing offenses in the past 4 games, giving up an average of 37.0 points/game. If there's a critical weakness of the Fever defense, it's the rush defense, which ranks last in the IFL giving up 101.0 yards/game.
Offensively, Spokane has rushing weapons in Andrew Pierce and Trevor Kennedy, which could be a nightmare for Fever defenders to try and stop. Pierce did not suit up against the Barnstormers last week, but considering this is a homecoming game for him, it's likely he'll suit up this week. With the focus on stopping the run, it could lead to opportunities in the passing game for Dowdell to spread the ball to Helwege, Sims, Hayes and Charles. This can be a big game for Spokane's offense; so far this season, they're the only team to score more than 50 points against the Fever, which gives them an advantage. However, the downfall could be if Spokane turns the ball over. Despite the offensive weapons, Spokane must be careful in throwing the football, as the Fever defense leads the IFL with 14 interceptions.
Defensively, Spokane gave up 51 points to the Fever in their first meeting, which is the most points Tri-Cities has scored this year. The Fever have struggled scoring on offense this season, but have managed to win games due to their defense keeping games low scoring and relatively close. They has not scored more than 40 points in the past four games, but managed to go 2-2. Overall, the Fever are last in the IFL in rushing (50.0 ypg) but rank 4th in passing (168.0 ypg). Spokane statistically ranks last in the IFL in passing defense, but first in rushing defense, but considering the Fever's struggles establishing the run game, they could take more risks with Demetruce McNeal, Josh Ferguson, and Robert Brown to try and contain the Fever's passing attack.
Player to Watch: Carl Sims (WR)
One key factor to the Empire's success this season has been the play of WR Carl Sims. Sims was a relatively late addition to the Empire roster, joining the team two weeks before Spokane's season opener. In that time, Sims has been a valued asset in Spokane's passing game. So far this season, the 8-year IFL veteran is 2nd on the Empire with 27 receptions for 293 yards. He leads all Empire receivers with 10 touchdowns and ranks 4th in the IFL in touchdown receptions. Sims is only WR on the Spokane roster to haul in at least 1 touchdown reception in all 7 games this season.
Sims's role in Spokane's offense has stepped up in the last four games, especially last week when leading WR JJ Hayes was out due to a prior commitment. Sims had a great game against the Barnstormers, leading all Empire WRs with 5 receptions for 70 yards and 2 touchdowns, one of which was a 32-yard strike from QB Charles Dowdell.
The return of Hayes this week should benefit Sims against a Tri-Cities defense that is stacked with talented defensive backs. With more weapons on the field for Spokane's offense, Sims should have another nice game and presumably keep his touchdown streak intact.
TRI-CITIES:
The Fever had an up-and-down season in 2016. After starting the season 0-2, Tri-Cities have gone 3-2 in their last five games, but it's been a streak of 1-game winning and losing streaks. They got the 1-game win streak last week, a narrow 39-31 road victory over the Colorado Crush. The Fever trailed early, but kept it close throughout the game. With 3:41 left to go in the 4th Quarter, the Fever connected on a 41-yard field goal to take a 32-31 lead. Colorado would get the ball on the next drive, but would miss a 35-yard field goal, giving the Fever the ball. With 57 seconds left to go, Tri-Cities marched down field and scored on a 46-yard pass from QB Pat McCain to WR DeJuan Miller, putting the Fever ahead 39-31. The Crush would make one last attempt to try and score to tie the game on a 2-point conversion, driving as far as to he Fever's 1-yard line, but the Fever's stout defense held the Crush to 4 straight incomplete passes and hung on to win.
The Fever's offense faces a tough test against a red-hot Spokane Empire team that has won 3-straight and holds a 3-game advantage over Tri-Cities in the Intense Conference. Tri-Cities features a unique quarterback situation, where they aren't afraid to play two quarterbacks throughout the game. Hunter Wanket is the team's primary starter, but backup Pat McCain is known to come in when the Fever enter inside the 15-yard line. McCain has gotten more time under center due to various injuries suffered by Wanket, as was the case last week in Colorado.
The health of Wanket going into Saturday's game will determine if the Fever offense will feature their dual-QB offense or if McCain will be the primary signal caller. Of the two quarterbacks, McCain is the more mobile QB, leading the Fever with 144 rush yards and 8 rushing TDs. The Fever have struggled running the football, but boast a solid WR core of DeJuan Miller (34 rec, 415 yds, 6 TD), Akeem Foster (26 rec, 345 yds, 8 TD) and DeJay Lester (21 rec, 278 yds, 6 TD). The Fever offense has struggled to score; outside of the 51 points they put up on Spokane in Week 1, they've scored twice in the 40's (46, 47) and 4 times in the 30's (34, 37, 35, 39). The Fever are going to try and exploit Spokane's 10th ranked pass defense, keeping them on their heels to try and establish their struggling run game in order to score more than 30 points. However, if the Fever continues to struggle reaching the end zone, the pressure is going to fall upon their defense.
If the Fever want to come away with a victory, they're going to have to rely on their defense. While Spokane's offense is one of the most dangerous in the IFL, the Fever have a very good defense that ranks 2nd in points allowed (42.9 ppg) and 2nd in pass defense (126.7 ypg). As a team, the Fever lead the IFL with 14 interceptions, including a league leading 5 interceptions by DB Dee Maggitt. In addition to Maggitt, the Fever possess other great DBs, including Boubacar Cissoko and Bradley Njoku. Cissoko ranks 2nd on the team with 3 interceptions and also leads the Fever with 31.0 total tackles, while Bradley Njoku also has 3 interceptions and 2nd on the team with 30.0 tackles. Their defensive backfield is capable of handling Spokane's receiving threats, but their 10th ranked rush defense is an area of concern. The Fever have not given up more than 39 points in the past 4 games, and have been responsible for why the Fever have continued to win despite low offensive scoring output.
Player to Watch: Dee Maggitt (DB)
The rookie DB out of Hawaii has made his impact felt on a very good Fever pass defense. So far this season, Maggitt leads both the Fever and the entire IFL with 5 interceptions. His presence in the Fever's defensive backfield has contributed to the team's defense ranking 2nd in scoring defense, 2nd in passing defense, and 4th in overall defense. The Fever have not more than 39 points in the past 4 games, and have given up more than 50 points only once this season.
Maggitt's also made his presence felt in the Fever's kick return game, returning 20 kicks for 422 yards and 1 touchdown. He's known to rip off big returns, including a 52-yard return against Cedar Rapids to start the game with a quick score. His combined total yardage in the kick return game and on interceptions leads all Fever players in all purpose yardage (443) and average yards/game (73.8).
With rival Spokane coming into town, Maggitt and the Fever defense are going to have their hands full with containing the Empire's offense. Maggitt will have to bring his A-game on Saturday night, both on defense and in special teams. The Fever defense is going to try and limit Spokane's offensive output and keep the game relatively low scoring to keep the game within reach for their offense.
QUOTABLE
Empire QB Charles Dowdell on playing Iowa and Tri-Cities 4 times in a 5 week span.
“I really don't like to see teams so close, I like to have some room in between. You play a team so close it's hard to beat them back to back. We really have to be focused and professionals and take advantage of the opportunity to keep first place.”
Empire LB Nick Haag on the defense's performance so far this season.
"We have to clean up some of the mental mistakes. We had a lot of missed tackles, 20 or something [against Colorado], and that's inexcusable stuff."
HC Adam Shackleford on the Empire's family dynamic.
"We're a close team but these guys push each other, just like my brother and I did growing up and like my kids do now."
Empire WR JJ Hayes discusses missing the Iowa game due to taking an exam at the Chicago police department academy.
"My first dream was always football. My next dream was to be a detective, but you have to be a police officer first. You always have to have a backup plan."
Dowdell on the team's flight delays/cancellations going to and from Des Moines.
"We had a lot of adversity even before we touched foot in Iowa. We watched film at the airport and took advantage of the time we had together."
FEATURED TWEETS
IFL SCHEDULE THIS WEEK
April 22 - Cedar Rapids Titans (5-3) at Wichita Falls Nighthawks (4-2), 5 p.m.
April 23 - Sioux Falls Storm (6-1) at Nebraska Danger (5-3), 5 p.m.
April 23 - Spokane Empire (5-1) at Tri-Cities Fever (3-4), 7 p.m.
April 24 - Iowa Barnstormers (3-4) at Green Bay Blizzard (1-6), 1 p.m.
April 24 - Colorado Crush (0-7) at Billings Wolves (3-4), 2 p.m.
EXTRA
Tri-Cities has one of the most unique quarterback situations in the IFL. While most teams have a starter and a backup that'll act as a band-aid for the offense, the Fever utilize both their quarterbacks during a game.
Jeff Morrow of the Tri-City Herald describes the situation in a unique way - comparing it to baseball. QBs Hunter Wanket and Pat McCain are the equivalent of baseball pitchers while head coach Ryan Lingenfelder acts as the baseball manager.
Confused? Well put it this way. You know how you have a starting pitcher, and as the game progresses, the team's manager has to decide what pitcher to put in? That's what Lingenfelder has done with Wanket and McCain; one may start, but Lingenfelder isn't afraid to put in the backup for certain situations.
Wanket is the traditional pocket passer with experience, but isn't known for his run ability, even with the Bemidji Axemen in 2014. He is described by Morrow as the QB who "runs the offense when the Fever have a lot of field ahead of it."
Meanwhile, McCain has been typically put into the game when the Fever are inside the red zone, just inside the 15 yard line. McCain, who played with Tri-Cities last season, possesses a strong arm and is more of a runner. He describes Wanket as the calmer of the two, while he is more energetic and will choose to run more often than not.
Wanket's been the primary starter this season, but injuries have resulted in McCain getting the nod to start some games.
The QB's would rather be the primary starter, but they won't let selfish desires get in the way of helping the Fever win.
“We're 100 percent for each other," Wanket said. "I told him [McCain] from Day 1, ‘If you’re in, I’ve got your back. And when I’m in, you’ve got mine."
McCain backed up Wanket's words, saying "Hunter and I are good friends. When I come off the field to the sidelines, he has a drawing board and tells me what he saw from the bench.”
That couldn't make the Fever's head coach any happier. “They are the epitome of the guys I want on this team,” said Lingenfelder. “They are the most unselfish players on this team. I've been telling everyone we’re really fortunate to have these two guys. It’s been successful so far.”
Information from The Tri-Cities Herald was used in this Extra. If you would like to read the original article, click here.
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