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| ExtremeSunday, July 22, 2007 8:10 PM CDT |
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Extreme advances to conference finals
ROCKFORD -- As part of the comprehensive Rock River pregame introductions Saturday, Raptors’ linebacker Maurice Simpkins took the MetroCentre carpet wearing a boxing-style robe with his No. 33 stitched in green on the back. | Photo gallery Theatrics aside, Rock River will not be wearing the United Indoor Football title belt thanks to an inspired Bloomington effort. The Extreme was sharp on offense, opportunistic on defense and even recorded a special teams touchdown while upsetting the Eastern Conference regular-season champions, 43-30. No. 4 seed Bloomington (9-7) was victorious in the first playoff game in franchise history and will meet the winner of today’s Lexington at RiverCity game for the Eastern Conference championship next Saturday on the road. “It’s a real good feeling to work hard and accomplish something like this,” Extreme coach Ted Schmitz said. “We’re not going to celebrate yet. We have unfinished work.” Bloomington recovered four Rock River fumbles, intercepted three passes and committed no turnovers for a shocking plus-7 turnover ratio. “That’s more (turnovers forced) than we’ve had all year, isn’t it?” asked a beaming Schmitz. Two quick fourth-quarter touchdowns and a successful Rock River onside kick whittled the Extreme lead to 43-30 before a critical Raptors’ mistake short-circuited the comeback. Luke McArdle caught a long Ben Sankey pass and was driving for extra yardage inside the Bloomington 5-yard line when he fumbled. The Extreme’s Winston Taylor pounced on the ball in the end zone for a touchback. Rolling up a first-half season high for points, Bloomington enjoyed a 27-point lead before settling for a 37-17 halftime advantage. Dusty Burk hit James Walton for a 4-yard touchdown pass on the Extreme’s opening possession. Rock River, which bowed out at 10-6, answered with a 21-yard scoring toss from Sankey to McArdle. A pinpoint strike from Burk to Reggie Gray netted a 21-yard TD for a 14-7 Extreme lead before Shatone Powers turned in the key play of the opening half on the ensuing kickoff. Powers stripped Raptors’ kick returner Antonio Overstreet and ran 13 yards for a shocking touchdown. “He was fighting off a tackle,” said Powers, “and that’s the time to go for a turnover.” A 23-yard Peter Christofilakos field goal preceded a key Bloomington defensive play. Terrill Mayberry forced an Overstreet fumble on a rush inside the 5-yard line. Dorian Pitts, who earlier intercepted a pass, fell on the fumble in the end zone. Bloomington quickly took advantage of that turnover as Burk found a well-covered Walton for a 30-yard scoring strike and a 31-7 bulge. “We were clicking,” said Burk, who completed 19 of 27 passes for 206 yards and three touchdowns. “We got the looks we thought we would get. We had great matchups. I don’t know why they press (cover) him (Walton).” “We knew we had to get momentum to start,” Schmitz said. Rock River got a 39-yard field goal from Doug Daniel before the Extreme extended its margin to 37-10 on a 1-yard touchdown run from Eric Powell. Christofilakos’ extra point missed. The Raptors cut their deficit to 20 entering halftime when a Randy Bell rush found the end zone from 3 yards out with 13 seconds left. Even though a 46-yard Christofilakos field goal attempt was wide left at the horn, the first-half outburst produced more points than the Extreme had scored in six entire games during the regular season. Walton caught four passes for 84 yards, Glenn Johnson seven passes for 69 yards and Gray six for 52 yards for Bloomington. The Bloomington defense turned Rock River away on the home team’s first three possessions of the second half. After Randy Bell returned the third-quarter kickoff to the Extreme 4-yard line, the Bloomington defense held as Winston Taylor nailed Bell on a third-down rush and Eric Johnson’s pass rush on fourth down caused Sankey to hurl a desperation pass out of bounds. Rock River threatened again but came up empty as Bloomington’s James Temple intercepted Sankey inside the Extreme 10-yard line. The Raptors then moved to the Bloomington 1-yard line before Sankey bobbled the snap while attempting a handoff on third-and-goal. The Extreme’s Rachman Crable fell on the fumble before a crawling Sankey could arrive. Sankey finished at 17 of 31 for 225 yards, two TDs and three interceptions. The Extreme won the total offense battle, 284 yards to 269. Bady was taken off the field on a stretcher after a collision with the end zone boards at the 6:20 mark of the third quarter. E-mail this story | Print this story | Search archives | RSS Show comments |  Hide comments | Hide comments on all stories |
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