Fever look to clean up game, get first win

Ryan Lingenfelder really hasn’t had to say much to his football team this week.

The Tri-Cities Fever head coach has let his players stew after a 47-46 road loss at Nebraska last week.

“That one-point loss has not set well with the guys,” Lingenfelder admits.

So when his team plays host to the Billings Wolves at 7 p.m. Saturday in the Toyota Center in an Indoor Football League contest, he expects his players to be mad and ready to play.

“In my opinion, we’ve shot ourselves in the foot the first two games,” said Lingenfelder. “We could just as easily by 2-0 right now.”

Tonight’s game pits the 1-1 Wolves — who lost their home opener to perennial powerhouse Sioux Falls 51-28 on Feb. 20, then beat the Colorado Crush 47-30 on the road last weekend — against the 0-2 Fever.

Tri-Cities lost 60-51 to Spokane on Feb. 20, then fell to Nebraska on Feb. 27.

Lingenfelder says he’s working on getting his players to correct the little things.

“The late hits. The rookie stuff. The nonprofessional stuff is what I’m looking to get corrected,” said Lingenfelder. “We’ve got such a young crew. Unfortunately, our leaders haven’t had to be leaders before, and they need to be. Overall, though, I’m happy how everybody is buying into our system.”

Billings coach Chris Dixon was pleased with his team’s road win last weekend.

“We were pretty balanced on offense,” he said. “We ran 50 plays, and 29 were rushing plays and 21 were passing. That’s good balance.”

Dixon has Dak Britt back at quarterback, and the second-year player is a dual threat to run and pass.

His secondary on the defensive side, led by standout Michael Green, is pretty much intact from last season.

“I see a key matchup as our secondary against their receivers,” said Dixon, who also likes the matchup of both teams’ lines. “In Tri-Cities, I see a team that fights to the end. It’s a team that doesn’t get frustrated.”

For Lingenfelder, the key will be to stop Billings running back Julian Laing.

“It’s whether or not we can stop the run,” Lingenfelder said. “We don’t fear their quarterback throwing the ball. We basically need to stop the run.”

More games changes season outlook

Dixon said the league adding two more games to the schedule — from 14 to 16 — changes the outlook to a season, especially when three of the five teams in each conference make the postseason.

“The main thing is you don’t feel like you’re out of (the playoff race) if you start 0-2,” Dixon said. “To me, the real season is starting right now. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.”

Lingenfelder agrees.

“I’m not stressed at all,” he said. “Spokane has still got to play a lot of games. So does Nebraska.”

Carr expecting more fans tonight

Fever owner Teri Carr said the team had 3,917 fans for the home opener back on Feb. 20.

“It was alright,” said Carr. “We were down from last year’s opener. But I think we’ll be the same if not more for Saturday night’s game.”

Carr, like Lingenfelder, isn’t ready to panic with the team’s 0-2 start.

“I knew going into the season that we’d be young,” she said. “Maybe we would be slow out of the gate. But I’m actually pretty happy. Both games could have gone either way. And in the Tri-Cities, with the exception of the 2012 season, we always start slow. It’s because we have to spend so much time outside practicing. It isn’t until the season gets going, when the players have had enough time playing indoors, that we pick things up.”

Notes

Fever QB Hunter Wanket left last week’s game in the fourth quarter with a chest injury. He’s expected back tonight, but Lingenfelder has been cautious with him at practice this week. Besides, backup QB Patrick McCain has also played well these first two games. … Two players who won’t suit up tonight for the Fever are DL Brandon Rankin and LB Marcell Coke Jr. Both have been placed on short-term IR. … Former Fever LB Brandon Wilson was signed this week, as was WR Sheldon Galloway. … Fever kicker Steven Wakefield has done a good job on kickoffs, helping put the opposing team deep in its own territory on offense. But he also missed three PATs last week in the Nebraska loss. “Nobody was down on him this week,” said Lingenfelder, “but we need him to have a good game this week.” … WR Akeem Foster has already found the end zone four times this season. … DB Boubacar Cissoko has already had two pass interceptions and one fumble recovery for the Fever. … After tonight’s game, the Fever play host to the Cedar Rapids Titans on March 11. Then the team is done for March. Its next game would then be April 1, at home against Colorado.

This story was originally published March 4, 2016 at 7:37 PM with the headline "Fever look to clean up game, get first win."