Fever loses grip on Pacific title
KENNEWICK -- The Fairbanks Grizzlies have spent the last three months of the Indoor Football League season trying to chase down the Tri-Cities Fever.
Finally, on Saturday night, they caught and passed the Fever for the inside track to the Pacific Division title, beating Tri-Cities 31-28 at Toyota Center in front of 3,300 fans.
With the victory, Fairbanks takes a 9-4 record home after a three-game road trip and one regular-season game remaining (against Seattle).
The Fever falls to 8-4, with road games at Wenatchee Valley on June 4 and at Seattle on June 12. If the two teams have the same record at season's end, Fairbanks holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Fever, winning two of their three meetings.
For Fairbanks, it's a huge comeback.
"We learned early in the season, when we started 0-3, that you've got to play the whole game," said Fairbanks defensive back Noah Harris.
Which neither team did Saturday. Fairbanks struggled in the first half, and Tri-Cities floundered in the second.
The Fever, in fact, had a 28-9 halftime lead as quarterback Houston Lillard passed for three touchdowns and ran for another.
Tri-Cities' defensive unit stopped Fairbanks' first three offensive series, and only when Lillard was called for intentional grounding with 2:58 to play in the half -- resulting in a safety -- did the Grizzlies get on the scoreboard.
"Our defense kept us in the game for as long as it could," said Fever coach Adam Shackleford. "We didn't play a great first half offensively."
Fairbanks coach Robert Fuller said he went into the locker room at the half calm.
"You give your guys a couple of minutes to vent and get their frustrations out," Fuller said. "Then you start to meet in your little groups. You realize that there is no one play that scores 19 points. So you settle down and commit to one drive at a time."
Which is what the Grizzlies did.
The turning point may have come early in the third quarter. The Fever had stopped Fairbanks on its opening drive, but Lillard had his pass picked off by Harris on the next series.
The Grizzlies defensive back ran it back 20 yards for a touchdown to cut the Fever lead to 28-16.
"(Lillard) didn't see me when he threw the pass," said Harris. "But our defensive backs started noticing he was locking in on his first receiver. I told (Fever receiver Steven) Whitehead that."
The Fever lost running back Dennis Kennedy on the next series when he threw a punch at Fairbanks defensive lineman Steve Smith Jr. -- causing Kennedy's ejection.
It forced Shackleford to adjust his offensive lineup the rest of the game.
Over their next three series, the Grizzlies added a field goal, then a Romandre Gibbs 1-yard TD run, and finally a Donovan Porterie 1-yard scoring run.
That last score came with 7:15 to play in the game and gave Fairbanks its first lead of the game at 31-28.
Still, the Fever wasn't out of it. Lillard moved the team downfield to the Grizzlies 1 with 2:58 to play and a fourth-down situation. Shackleford opted to let kicker Gary Cismesia try for the tie with an 18-yard field goal attempt.
His kick sailed wide to the right, and Fairbanks was able to run out the clock.
The Grizzlies defense pitched a shutout in the second half, keeping the No. 2 scoring offense in the IFL from scoring.
"We didn't keep our composure tonight," said Shackleford.
Lillard agreed.
"We beat ourselves in the second half," said Lillard. "I've got to play better. I'm pretty disappointed in myself. But there were moments in the game where we needed to get together and we didn't."
Whitehead was even more blunt.
"This is totally unacceptable," he said. "We killed ourselves as we normally do when we get a lead. The only way to go from here is to look at ourselves in the mirror. We need to take a step back and eat a piece of humble pie. Maybe we're not as good as we think."
This story was originally published May 29, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Fever loses grip on Pacific title."