The Thunder Rolls for 4 straight Victories

[JJ]

Recap found at-
www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=3808839

:smileythunder: Over

55 to 17

OREM, Utah - The winning streak continues.

The Utah Valley Thunder scored 27 straight points to open the game and never looked back in beating the Ogden Knights, 55-17, Saturday night at the McKay Events Center for their fourth consecutive victory, while holding the Knights to season-lows in points and total yards.

Thunder quarterback Mike Affleck threw first-half touchdown passes to Jeff Johnson (11, 20) and Quincy Jackson (8), and Affleck rushed for another as Utah Valley jumped out to the early 27-0 lead.

The Utah Valley defense stopped the Knights (0-5) twice inside the 10-yard line, and Ogden, which had just 58 yards total offense in the first half, also missed a pair of field goal attempts. The Knights finally scored with less than a minute left in the first half on a 15-yard pass from Brandon Doyle to Adrian Conway to cut the lead to 27-7.

Utah Valley (4-1) scored two more times in the third quarter one on a 1-yard run by Affleck and an 18-pass from Affleck to Jackson to put the game well out of reach. UV scored 14 more in the fourth.

For the game, Affleck completed 17-of-26 passes for career-highs in yards (239) and touchdowns (6). He also rushed for a touchdown. Johnson tallied eight catches for 110 yards and two scores, while Jackson had seven catches for 75 yards and three scores and Tim Simmons had three catches for 85 yards and two touchdowns.

Doyle, before getting hurt in the fourth quarter, completed just 10-of-29 passes 90 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed for a touchdown.

The Thunder finished with 280 yards total offense, while the Knights finished with 100 yards total offense.

Utah Valley hosts the New Mexico Wildcats Monday, April 27 at 7 p.m. at the McKay Events Center and then hosts Wyoming, the Western Conference division leader, May 2.

[JJ]

Being a Thunder fan this sure was a great game to go to! Having not been able to attend the last three games, it was great to see growth the team has gone through. Things were finally clicking on all cylinders for the team.

The offense has taken mold and now is playing like a unit. Affleck (who I admit I had some doubts about) has settled into being a solid quarterback in this league. The great thing about his game is that he has the talent and potential to get much better. The receiving corps headed by Jackson and Johnson have really started to become settled in as well and quite dangerous.

The Defense has consistantly put pressure on the opposing team as the DB's have slowly but surely picked up their game. The most impressing thing about the defense is their ability to play as a unit, whereas before that seemed to be the biggest difficulty.

The games against New Mexico and Ogden have proven as stepping stones to developing into an up and coming team. There is still much room for improvement, but it really is fun to see this team develop into a solid unit. It is interesting to see also that some of the other newer teams such as the Force and Stampede (other new franchises) start to find their ground and get better each week. I believe that come the last few weeks of the season, these teams will be competing with the top teams in the league. With the little success they have been having, it's clear that there are more bumpy roads ahead, but it does bring a little fresh air to see the new franchises shake things up.

All in all, great game to watch and attend! Keep the Thunder Rollin!

[JJ]

Out of the Utah Daily Herald

Sunday, 19 April 2009
Thunder win fourth straight

Jon Andrus - Herald Correspondent

For a game that is known for its offense, maybe it was a sign of things to come that it started with defensive play. Utah Valley Thunder's Charlie Hunt tackled Ogden Knights Quarterback Dunstin Boyle for a 8-yard loss, and the Thunders defense didn't let up the rest of the game, leading the way to a 55-17 blowout win on Saturday.
The Knights briefly recovered from the early setback and put together a drive down to the Thunder's 10-yard line, only to be turned away from the end zone on four straight plays. Defensive back Duane Paul nearly had a pick six going the other way, but you know the old cliche, "defensive backs play defense for a reason," as the perfectly thrown ball to him bounced off his numbers.

The Thunder then proceeded to march down the field after the turnover. Thunder quarterback Mike Affleck's favorite target of the first half was former BYU player Jeff Johnson. Johnson turned a short pass into a 15-yard gain. Later in the drive, Affleclk found Johnson slanting across the middle for 11-yard touchdown.

That pretty much set the tone for the rest of the game. Ogden would get a drive going, getting close enough to have a legitimate scoring threat only to be turned away by the Thunder defense. Boyle never could get comfortable, as he got chased around by the defense the whole game.

One of the people chasing him was Sete Aulai. Aulai played on the offense when played for BYU, but likes the switch to defense.

"Its something new," Aulai said. "You just go. Your not thinking about it as much. You just go get the quarterback or you go get the runner."

When asked about holding the Knights to 17 points, Aulai said, "It says a lot about our defense, its something we can be proud of."

After the Knights' second drive ended in a missed field goal attempt Affleck led the Thunder on another quick scorning drive, finding Johnson again for a 15-yard gain down the sideline. Then Affleck found Quicny Jackson on a 20-yard post for the touchdown.

The rest of the game Ogden had to play catch up and they didn't do themselves in any favors. On their third possesion, the Knights fumbled and Jay Suguturage recovered for the Thunder. Three plays later Affleck found Johnson in the end zone to make the score 21-0.

"It feels good. It especially feels good to make some big plays at home," Johnson said. "When your at home you can celebrate a little with the fans."

With the score 27-0 with 50 seconds left in the first half Dustin Boyle gave the Knights their one bright spot of the first half as he hooked up with Adrian Conway in the corner of the end zone to give the Knights there first score, making it 27-7 at the end of the half.

With the outcome well in hand it allows you time to look around and see some fan interaction. No football team is complete unless it has a core base of rowdy, passionate fans, and if you go to a Utah Thunder Game, then introduce your self to Bart, Jesse, and Jason. They sit front and center at every game. One of the Thunders themes is to bring the noise and these guys deliver. Yelling, talking smack, pounding the floor from the start of the game to the end. Tenatitvely calling themselves the Thunder Crazies, Asked why they adopted the Thunder as their team, Jason said, "We have supported every indoor football team that has come through Utah. The Warriors, the Catzz, the Blaze, and since where from around here, now the Thunder."

The Thuner Crazies got their money's worth as the only thing that was different in the second half was that Mike Affleck decided to spread it around to the rest of his receivers. Tim Simmons, Jackson and Johnson all took their turns catching deep balls thrown by Affleck. The former Timpview quarterback ended the game six touchdown passes. Kicker Scott Thompson even got into the scoring act. If you can kick the ball through the uprights on the kick off you are rewarded with one point. Thompson drilled the 58-yard kick in the forth quarter.

Coach Chad Degrenier said he was proud of the effort his team gave.

"We are starting to gel as a team, we are starting to make less mistakes, and we are finishing plays and thats huge, especially with New Mexico and Wyoming coming up."

The defense continued to harass Boyle the entire game, forcing him in to throw into traffic all game long and intercepting him once. Eventually Boyle had to leave game due to injury late in the forth quarter.

The victory is the Thunder's fourth win in row since losing their first game. They improve to 4-1, good for second behind Wyomin in the West division of the AIFA.