Post by Gene on Jul 27, 2009 0:28:20 GMT -5
A TD pass just prior to halftime shifts momentum toward Reading, which pushes past Wyoming for championship
By Austin Ward
Reading Eagle correspondent
CASPER, Wyo. - On the road. On the ropes. On the clock.
Rob Flowers changed everything on the run, hitting Yardon Brantley in stride for a score just before halftime to save a season and send Reading toward a title.
The next stop is a victory parade back home. But the celebration would have been in, and for, Wyoming if the Express quarterback hadn't delivered a buzzer-beating pass to alter the momentum in a 65-42 win in the American Indoor Football Association championship game Sunday at the Casper Events Center.
"Coach (Bernie Nowotarski) asked me right before the play if I wanted to kick a field goal or score, and if we scored we were going to put ourselves in a great position going into the second half," Flowers said. "So we called a great play and we made it.
"We really knew that if we were able to get that touchdown we would come back out and get the ball and we'd be ready for the second half. It changed everything for us drastically."
It certainly changed the final destination for the championship trophy, which looked like it would belong to the Cavalry (13-3) when it was primed to take a two-score lead into intermission.
The Express (14-3) had no answer for Wyoming's high-powered offense early, giving up touchdowns on every first-half possession but one and struggling in coverage.
And when Reading finally did get a stop midway through the second quarter, Flowers immediately gave the momentum right back when Austin Bailey returned an interception for a touchdown.
But a pair of touchdown strikes from Flowers in the final minute erased his lone mistake, and the 22-yarder to Brantley in the seam deflated the Cavalry and its fans just before halftime. Neither ever recovered.
"We knew that if we hung tight with this group and against this crowd with the noise, we could do it," Nowotarski said. "We always say you've got to weather the storm. Once the storm passes and you're still within the grasp, we knew we had a chance to do it.
"We talked about (the decision) on the headsets and knew we had enough time to try to cut into it a little bit and go for the touchdown, and if we get it, we're getting the ball in the second half and we can make our adjustments. That's exactly what took place."
Wyoming's up-tempo attack slowed to a crawl after halftime, and didn't score another touchdown until the final minute.
Usually reliable quarterback Matt Strand was frustrated by a relentless pass rush and flustered at one point into two penalties on one play.
And Flowers continued to make the Cavs pay by picking them apart in the secondary, finishing with 18 completions on 28 attempts for 200 yards and five touchdowns.
There wasn't anything wrong with the other four, but obviously the one just before halftime will stand out as the most memorable.
And perhaps the difference in winning or losing a title.
"It was a great read between myself and Yardon," Flowers said. "That was something that we've been working on, trying to do all year the way teams play against us. We wanted the middle of the field, we took it and it was nice. A great play for us.
"We saw what we could do, we had that momentum and we went on and finished it off."
Source: www.readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=149865
By Austin Ward
Reading Eagle correspondent
CASPER, Wyo. - On the road. On the ropes. On the clock.
Rob Flowers changed everything on the run, hitting Yardon Brantley in stride for a score just before halftime to save a season and send Reading toward a title.
The next stop is a victory parade back home. But the celebration would have been in, and for, Wyoming if the Express quarterback hadn't delivered a buzzer-beating pass to alter the momentum in a 65-42 win in the American Indoor Football Association championship game Sunday at the Casper Events Center.
"Coach (Bernie Nowotarski) asked me right before the play if I wanted to kick a field goal or score, and if we scored we were going to put ourselves in a great position going into the second half," Flowers said. "So we called a great play and we made it.
"We really knew that if we were able to get that touchdown we would come back out and get the ball and we'd be ready for the second half. It changed everything for us drastically."
It certainly changed the final destination for the championship trophy, which looked like it would belong to the Cavalry (13-3) when it was primed to take a two-score lead into intermission.
The Express (14-3) had no answer for Wyoming's high-powered offense early, giving up touchdowns on every first-half possession but one and struggling in coverage.
And when Reading finally did get a stop midway through the second quarter, Flowers immediately gave the momentum right back when Austin Bailey returned an interception for a touchdown.
But a pair of touchdown strikes from Flowers in the final minute erased his lone mistake, and the 22-yarder to Brantley in the seam deflated the Cavalry and its fans just before halftime. Neither ever recovered.
"We knew that if we hung tight with this group and against this crowd with the noise, we could do it," Nowotarski said. "We always say you've got to weather the storm. Once the storm passes and you're still within the grasp, we knew we had a chance to do it.
"We talked about (the decision) on the headsets and knew we had enough time to try to cut into it a little bit and go for the touchdown, and if we get it, we're getting the ball in the second half and we can make our adjustments. That's exactly what took place."
Wyoming's up-tempo attack slowed to a crawl after halftime, and didn't score another touchdown until the final minute.
Usually reliable quarterback Matt Strand was frustrated by a relentless pass rush and flustered at one point into two penalties on one play.
And Flowers continued to make the Cavs pay by picking them apart in the secondary, finishing with 18 completions on 28 attempts for 200 yards and five touchdowns.
There wasn't anything wrong with the other four, but obviously the one just before halftime will stand out as the most memorable.
And perhaps the difference in winning or losing a title.
"It was a great read between myself and Yardon," Flowers said. "That was something that we've been working on, trying to do all year the way teams play against us. We wanted the middle of the field, we took it and it was nice. A great play for us.
"We saw what we could do, we had that momentum and we went on and finished it off."
Source: www.readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=149865
