Fever fall to 1-5 with loss to Ice

The Tri-Cities Fever dug itself a deep hole on Sunday that it couldn’t get out of, losing its fifth consecutive Indoor Football League game, this one by a 55-28 score to the host Colorado Ice.

More importantly, Tri-Cities falls to 1-5 while Colorado improves to 4-2.

The Ice, holding on to the second and final Intense Conference playoff berth with a 4-2 record, has a three-game lead on the Fever with eight games remaining on each team’s schedule.

On Sunday, the Fever spotted the Ice a 10-0 lead and a 38-6 halftime lead.

Fever coach Adam Shackleford was hoping his defense could contain the Ice running game and let Colorado quarterback Willie Copeland try to win the game with his arm.

But former Fever running back Dennis Kennedy rushed for 58 yards and a touchdown for Colorado, and Copeland still passed for 155 yards and three TDs. Copeland also rushed for 49 yards and scolred two touchdowns himself.

Tri-Cities quarterback Houston Lillard, playing in just his second game with the Fever this season, struggled by tossing three interceptions.

Lillard passed for 154 yards and a touchdown — a 10-yard scoring strike to Tre Young. Lillard also scored on a 1-yard run.

The Ice turned three turnovers into 17 points, and two blocked kicks into 7 more points.

Fever defensive back Donyae Coleman had two interceptions, returning one of them 38 yards for a score.

Running back Keithon Flemming had Tri-Cities’ other score on an 18-yard run.

Defensively, Brandon Wilson — playing linebacker in place of the injured Boris Lee — led the Fever with eight tackles.

Ice linebacker Joe Thornton, a former Fever player, led his team defensively with nine tackles and a blocked kick.

The Fever has another road game this Saturday when it travels to play the Green Bay Blizzard (0-5).

This story was originally published April 13, 2014 at 11:18 PM with the headline "Fever fall to 1-5 with loss to Ice."