Tuesday, Apr. 15, 2008

League apology no relief for Fever coach

By Ben Reynolds, Herald staff writer

Cedric Walker and the Tri-Cities Fever got their answer from the arenafootball2 league office Monday morning.

It was followed by an apology.

The league office agreed with the Tri-Cities coach that the officials botched their share of calls during the Fever's 55-51 loss to West Division rival Spokane.

But the one play that had Walker and the rest of the Fever organization fuming -- and the one both coaches agreed was the turning point in the game -- is still a point of contention.

Leading 30-21, LaRue Burley intercepted Jason Murrietta's pass at the Tri-Cities 1-yard line and returned it for a touchdown on the last play of the first half. After the interception, both teams committed personal foul penalties.

The referees sorted out the penalties and told both coaches the touchdown would stand on the off-setting penalties. A few minutes later, the officials took the touchdown off the scoreboard and ended the half.

So instead of the Fever holding at least a 36-21 halftime lead, it was 30-21.

Walker said the league told him that the touchdown should have counted, and it was unsure which rule the officials used in taking away the touchdown.

"It's messed up," Walker said. "All I wanted to do was win that game and we got screwed.

"I have been around this game for more than 20 years and have never seen that call."

But even with the league and the head of officials siding with Walker and the Fever, it won't likely change the outcome of the game.

Fever general manager Randy Schillinger filed a complaint with the league Monday asking that the officiating crew not be allowed to work anymore of the Fever games this season.

"It's just hard to swallow," Schilinger said.

An interesting rule the Fever had to deal with Sunday night was the 10-yard offsides penalty.

In the Arena Football League rule book, Rule 6.8 says that a team will be penalized double yards for committing more than three false start, offsides or delay of game penalties in a half.

Tri-Cities had four defensive offsides before halftime, prompting the 10-yard offsides penalty midway through the first half.

Former Pasco standout Raul Vijil battled the flu and still had five catches for 63 yards, most of those coming in the first half. Vijil is the Shock's leading receiver with 19 catches for 218 yards and five touchdowns in three games.

The three rushing touchdowns scored by the Fever in Sunday's loss were a single-game franchise record. Michael Hodges and John Pierce each have seven rushing yards this season, just seven away from breaking the team's af2 single-season record of 14 set by Byron Rogers last season. It should be noted that Rogers had 15 yards on one carry and finished the season with 14 yards on four carries.

This is the second straight season Tri-Cities has started the season 0-2. After losing its first two games last season, the Fever won three straight and five of six.

The Fever hits the road for the first time this weekend, traveling to take on Boise at 6:10 p.m. The Burn (1-1) picked up its first win of the season Saturday night, beating Stockton 51-43 in a game where it trailed 30-0 in the second quarter.

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