Fever top Billings 47-41 to notch first win of IFL season

The Tri-Cities Fever took a page out of the Cardiac Kids’ book Saturday night and rallied in the waning seconds to beat the visiting Billings Wolves 47-41.

It was the Fever’s first Indoor Football League victory this season, but it didn’t come easy.

At one point early in the fourth quarter, the Fever held a 40-21 lead when Pat McCain, starting at quarterback for the injured Hunter Wanket, connected with Akeem Foster on a 31-yard touchdown pass.

But there was still 11:59 left to play. And suddenly Tri-Cities looked like it was trying to play not to lose.

That’s when the Wolves (1-2) went on a serious run.

Billings quarterback Dak Britt led the Wolves on a 20-0 run. He scored for on a 6-yard run, then hit Marcus Barnett on a 13-yard TD pass. Finally, Britt connected with Austin Coleman on a 26-yard scoring strike.

That last play gave the Wolves a 41-40 lead with just 19.4 seconds to play.

Looking like the Fever were headed for their third straight loss to open the season, Dee Maggitt took the ensuing kickoff at his own 10 and returned it back to the Billings 9. Two penalties moved the ball down to the Wolves 3.

That’s when McCain took the snap and bulled into the end zone for the winning score with just 8.3 seconds remaining.

McCain finished with 119 yards passing and four TD passes, and he rushed for two more.

The Fever defense forced five turnovers: one fumble and two interceptions each by Maggitt and Bradley Njoku.

Tri-Cities led 27-21 at the half.

The Fever scored on their first four possessions of the first half, as McCain tossed TD passes to Dejuan Miller (7 yards), Akeem Foster (6) and Larry Cobb (18).

McCain also ran for a 2-yard score, giving Tri-Cities a 27-14 lead with 2:23 to play in the half.

But the Wolves fought back in the final minute, as Britt connected on a 13-yard TD pass to Marcus Barnett, who wound up in the first row of seats in the end zone but still hung on to the football.

On the ensuing kickoff, the Fever’s Jojo Snell failed to get the ball out of the end zone, and Billings’ Austin Coleman tackled him in the end zone for a 1-point rouge to cut the Tri-Cities lead to 27-21.

The Fever play host to Cedar Rapids next Friday.

This story was originally published March 5, 2016 at 10:23 PM with the headline "Fever top Billings 47-41 to notch first win of IFL season."