STEELHAWKS UPENDED BY TITANS

Bethlehem, PA: The Lehigh Valley Steelhawks (1-1) suffered their first loss on the young 2012 IFL season Saturday night in front of a sold out crowd in Cedar Rapids, Iowa falling 32-13 at the hands of the Titans. With a defensive battle for most of the first half, the Steelhawks offense was able to move the ball up and down the field however was unable to punch it into the endzone for those much needed points.

The Titans (1-0), playing their first regular season game in franchise history, were able to take the momentum of a raucous pregame celebration and turn that into points. A failed onsides kick to start the game gave Cedar Rapids excellent field position, and Runningback Travis Rhone was able to march in from three yards out for the games first score.

The Steelhawks first points came on their next possession as Virginia Tech product Chris Hazley, playing in his first indoor game, booted a 31 yard field goal, however the Titans answered back with yet another touchdown on a long 45 yard strike from Quarterback Willie Copeland to Everett Roberts.

In the second quarter the Steelhawks were able to cut the lead to 13-10 when Quarterback Dixie Wooten was able to elude the rush and find Wide Receiver Jeff Willis in the back of the endzone for a spralling touchdown catch.

A second scoring strike from Copeland to James Terry followed by another Hazley field goal had the score 19-13 with five seconds left in the half when things got interesting. The Steelhawks lined up for another Hazley field goal to end the half, which was blocked by a Titans defender. The ball was then scooped up and fallen on by Cedar Rapids. The Steelhawks field goal unit believed that multiple players touched him down to end the half, however the Titans player got up and ran into the endzone resulting in a touchdown, and the Titans were up 26-13 in the blink of an eye.

Neither teams offense came out strong in the second half with only a Copeland to Johnny Gray touchdown recorded for points making the final score 32-13.

“It wasn’t our best performance,” stated Head Coach Chris Thompson. “We have to sure up some things on offense because 13 points is not going to win you many football games in this league. We are going to rebound after this, and the best part is we have two straight games in front of our home crowd to get things back on track. The season is very early, and we are confident in our team.”