Saturday, Apr. 19, 2008

Fever looks for first win

By Ben Reynolds, Herald staff writer

Cedric Walker has tried to silence his critics by saying the season is long and drawn out and that the fate of a team cannot be decided in the first two games.

Walker, the coach of the Tri-Cities Fever, has reiterated that point throughout the first three weeks of the season after his team's 0-2 start. But at the same time, there is a little sense of urgency starting to kick in.

Walker knows that a loss in Boise tonight is going to make the climb to the playoffs that much more difficult.

"We can't afford to dig ourselves a deeper hole," he said.

Several factors have contributed to the slow start. On opening night, Tri-Cities wore down in the second half and turned the ball over twice in the fourth quarter in a 46-32 loss to Stockton.

Last Sunday, the Fever had a touchdown taken away at the end of the first half on a bad call by an official that swung the momentum to Spokane in an eventual 55-51 victory at Toyota Center.

The league issued an apology to the Fever for the officiating blunder, but it did little to rectify the situation. The loss was still a sore spot with Walker and the front office this week, but he insists the loss is behind them now.

"It's like spilled milk. It's done, it's over," Walker said.

Boise would be in the same 0-2 predicament as Tri-Cities if not for a huge comeback against Stockton last Saturday.

The Burn (1-1) trailed 30-0 early in the second quarter after six early turnovers. But after some adjustments and a switch at quarterback, Boise outscored Stockton 51-13 over the final 21/2 quarters on its way to a 51-43 road win.

"We just settled down and stopped making mistakes," said Burn coach Lee Leslie.

Although both teams were new to the af2 last season, they already have some history after Tri-Cities edged Boise to earn the final playoff spot in the American Conference.

The Burn beat Tri-Cities 52-42 in the regular-season finale for both teams. It was the Burn's fourth straight win and Tri-Cities' third straight loss. But because both teams were 8-8, they went to a tiebreaker, and since the Fever beat the Burn by 13 points earlier in the season, it got the final playoff spot.

"That was a shame," Leslie said, "because we were playing really well at that point."

The two teams got an early look at each other in March during an exhibition game at Toyota Center which the Fever won by one point.

But in the five weeks since, the rosters have changed dramatically.

The Fever will start former Boise quarterback Jason Campbell and the Burn will counter with rookie Royal Gill, who was the catalyst in last week's win.

The Burn has added wide receiver George Williams, who led the af2 in touchdowns last season with 46 playing for Rio Grande Valley. The Fever has added nose guard Chuck Jones, who had two sacks against Spokane last week.

"We're both revamped teams," Walker said. "We just have to go out and finish things."

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