Customer Service Place an Ad Become a Carrier Contact Us About Us Mobile Edition E-Mail Updates Report Cancellation
| Subscribe Now Customer Service Place an Ad Become a Carrier Contact Us About Us Mobile Edition E-Mail Updates Report Cancellation
|
 |
 |
|
Weather  Calendar Obituaries Classifieds Jobs Autos Homes Rentals Coupons Ad Center |
Bloomington-Normal, Illinois
|
Home News Sports
Free Time Life Money Nation/World Opinion Blogs/Columns Archives Site Map |
| Sports ExtraMonday, June 30, 2008 11:40 PM CDT |
 Comments (10) |  E-mail this page |  Print this page |  Enlarge type |  Reduce type |  Search archives |  RSS feeds |  Add to My Yahoo! |
Extreme suppresses Rage, advances in UIF playoffs
BLOOMINGTON -- Throughout the second half of the season, Bloomington Extreme coach Kenton Carr kept the belief that his team was so close to becoming a complete unit. | Photo gallery | Extreme page Monday night was its epiphany. Rested, loose and hungry, Bloomington displayed its most complete game of the season. The Extreme never gave the RiverCity Rage an opportunity in a 33-7 victory in the United Indoor Football Eastern Conference championship game in front of 3,208 U.S. Cellular Coliseum spectators. Bloomington (8-7) advances to United Bowl IV against Sioux Falls (12-3) on July 12 in Sioux Falls, S.D. It is the first time in the Extreme’s three-season existence it will play for the championship. “We were hungry,” wide receiver Glenn Johnson said. “We’ve preached all along that week in and week out we were the better team. All we had to do was put it together.” The Extreme picked the perfect night to do just that. Receiving contributions from everyone on offense, defense and special teams, Bloomington made sure the Rage (7-9) had no chance to muster anything. “We were constantly on the gas pedal,” defensive back B.J. Brown said. “We didn’t want to let down. We knew RiverCity was a good team and they were going to fight all the way through.” It was Bloomington’s defense that did most of the fighting. Entering the game ranked seventh in the UIF in total defense and points allowed, the rejuvenated unit played ferocious and energized. The Extreme set franchise records for fewest points surrendered and interceptions (four). It also allowed a 1.6 yards-per-carry average with no rushing touchdowns and broke up six passes. “Our defense was dominating,” Carr said. It had to be. Electing not to kick the ball to Rage returner Hurtis Chinn, the Extreme defense always started with its back against the wall. Six of RiverCity’s 10 possessions started on its own 20. “We knew they were going to (kick away from them),” linebacker Winston Taylor said. “Once they came in and told us that, we all sat down and said, ‘Look, we’ve got to come together and we got to make plays.’ That’s what we did.” Bloomington was constantly putting pressure on the RiverCity quarterbacks Ryan Maiuri and Anthony Fisher. When the defensive front and linebackers weren’t getting to the quarterback, the secondary was intercepting passes. “We know once we get pressure on the quarterback, that will force (the quarterback) to make throws he doesn’t want to make,” said Brown, who had two interceptions. “That will give us a chance to make a play on the ball.” With the defense forcing RiverCity into mistakes, the offense kept making plays. Leading 6-0 in the second quarter, Extreme quarterback Dusty Burk engineered an effective drive where he completed passes to three different receivers. Receiver James Walton culminated the 5-play, 47-yard drive with a 21-yard touchdown reception to increase the lead to 13-0. “Anytime you can be a balanced offense, you’re going to be more productive,” Burk said. Ahead 19-0 early in the fourth quarter, Bloomington exploded. Andre Raymond scored on a 12-yard touchdown pass from Burk. Ninety seconds later, Brown returned an interception 35 yards to increase the lead to 33-0. Burk was 23-of-37 passing for 219 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. Johnson grabbed eight passes, while Walton had six. Raymond, Derin Graham and SoSo Brooks each had three receptions. Kicker Peter Christofilakos booted four field goals. The Extreme had 232 yards of offense with no turnovers. “When our defense is getting turnovers and we’re not, that’s just adding to our possessions,” Burk said. “If we get more possessions than they do, we should win the game. That’s what they did.” Taylor had six tackles and A.J. Bryant made four stops. All told, the defense allowed 137 yards of offense. “This can’t get any better,” Johnson said. “I would say this is the most complete game because I’ve never seen a defense play that well. It was a complete game.” Still, the Extreme knows it cannot be satisfied with this win. “I think we’re still better than what we showed,” Taylor said. “You haven’t seen the best yet.” Scoring summaryFirst Quarter 12:27 BLO Christofilakos, 38 yd field goal 4 plays, 7 yards, TOP 2:33 0-3 04:47 BLO Christofilakos, 26 yd field goal 8 plays, 34 yards, TOP 4:47 0-6 Second Quarter 14:54 BLO Walton, James 21 yd pass from Burk, Dusty (Christofilakos, kick) 5 plays, 47 yards, TOP 1:26 0-13 08:23 BLO Christofilakos, 42 yd field goal 6 plays, 17 yards, TOP 2:59 0-16 00:00 BLO Christofilakos, 27 yd field goal 7 plays, 33 yards, TOP 0:49 0-19 Third Quarter No scoring plays Fourth Quarter 04:38 BLO Raymond, Andre 12 yd pass from Burk, Dusty (Christofilakos, kick) 10 plays, 45 yards, TOP 8:50 0-26 03:12 BLO Brown, B.J. 35 yd interception return (Christofilakos, kick) 0-33 01:21 RIV Union, Virgil 30 yd pass from Finney, Sterlin (Matheny, Mike kick) 3 plays, 33 yards, TOP 1:40 7-33 E-mail this story | Print this story | Search archives | RSS Show comments |  Hide comments | Hide comments on all stories |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
Top of Page | Home | News | Sports | Free Time | Life | Money | Nation/World | Opinion | Blogs/Columns | Archives | Site Map | RSS
Customer Service | 301 W. Washington St., PO Box 2907, Bloomington, IL 61701-2907 | Ph. 309-829-9000 | 800-747-7323
Copyright © 2008, Pantagraph Publishing Co. and Lee Enterprises. All rights reserved. | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy
|
Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.
anelson33 wrote on Jul 1, 2008 10:03 AM:
Voice of Reason2 wrote on Jul 1, 2008 8:19 AM:
michelle24 wrote on Jul 1, 2008 7:48 AM:
BloomingtonPT wrote on Jul 1, 2008 7:43 AM:
Ummmm wrote on Jul 1, 2008 7:05 AM:
newshound wrote on Jun 30, 2008 11:19 PM:
default wrote on Jun 30, 2008 10:33 PM:
mds1 wrote on Jun 30, 2008 10:29 PM:
mds1 wrote on Jun 30, 2008 10:28 PM:
Extremefan wrote on Jun 30, 2008 9:47 PM:
Please read the rules before posting comments.
You must be logged in to leave comments.
If you don't have a member ID, please register.