Fever falls 86-43 to Nebraska in IFL playoffs
The Tri-Cities Fever’s bid for an Indoor Football League title died on Friday in Grand Island, Neb.
Nebraska Danger quarterback Jameel Sewell picked apart the Fever’s defense all night, as the host Danger beat the Fever 86-43 in the IFL’s Intense Conference championship game.
The Danger advances to the IFL’s title game, the United Bowl, and awaits the winner of tonight’s United Conference championship game between Cedar Rapids and Sioux Falls.
The Fever saw its season end with an 8-7 record.
After an opening-series fumble that Fever defensive lineman Darian Barnes picked up and ran in for a touchdown from 3 yards out, Tri-Cities’ defense just could not stop Sewell or his receivers.
Sewell was 12-for-16 for 174 yards, but he also had six touchdown passes. And backup quarterback Bryan Carnes tossed another TD pass.
Marcus Barnett scored four TDs, while Troy Evans added two, as the Danger scored touchdowns on nine consecutive possessions.
It didn’t help when the Fever’s leading tackler, Troy Sanders, didn’t return to the team after the bye week last week. But even if the Fever had Sanders, it wouldn’t have mattered.
Offensively, Tri-Cities just couldn’t keep up with Nebraska.
Rookie quarterback Dominique Blackman had a rough game, tossing three interceptions and fumbled two other times.
The game was a back and forth affair in the first half, with the teams changing leads three times.
The Fever got on board first when Jake Killeen tackled Danger running back Waymon James deep in Nebraska territory, stripping the football from James.
The ball bounced straight up off the turf and into Fever defensive lineman Darian Barnes’ hands, who them rumbled the 3 yards into the end zone for a touchdown.
Nebraska tied it at 7-7 on the ensuing series, as quarterback Jameel Sewell dived in from the 1.
But the Fever retook the lead, 10-7, when kicker Brady Beeson connected on a 35-yard field goal.
It was the Danger’s turn on the next series, as Sewell lobbed a perfectly placed pass 14 yards to James and a 13-10 Nebraska lead.
But Fever quarterback Dominique Blackman brought Tri-Cities right back on the next series, finding Dejuan Miller in the back of the end zone for a 4-yard TD pass and a 16-13 Tri-Cities lead.
Three plays later, Sewell found Troy Evans for a 22-yard touchdown pass for a 20-16 Danger lead. From that point on, Nebraska kept the lead.
On Tri-Cities next series, Blackman threw a pass towards a heavily covered Steven Whitehead into the end zone. But Danger defensive back Malcolm Williams was waiting for it and intercepted the pass.
Sewell would end up throwing two more TD passes in the second quarter: one for 10 yards to Marcus Barnett and one of 17 yards to Evans.
Blackman added a 3-yard scoring strike to Dejay Lester for another Fever TD, but Tri-Cities went into intermission trailing by two scores, 34-22.
Tri-Cities’ defense just couldn’t stop Sewell and the Danger offense after the opening series. Nebraska was 5-for-5 for touchdowns, with many of the Danger wide receivers wide open against the Fever defensive coverage.
“We hung with them in the first half,” said Fever coach Adam Shackleford. “I wish we could have given them a better fight tonight.”
Still, Shackleford was proud of his team, considering he had to play five different quarterbacks and eight different defensive linemen this season, thanks to injuries.
“This is a special group,” Shackleford said. “They never questioned anything and they worked hard. Some of them played their last games tonight. Our turnover this season was remarkable. We had 41 different guys on our roster.”
This story was originally published June 26, 2015 at 11:07 PM with the headline "Fever falls 86-43 to Nebraska in IFL playoffs."