Fever blanked in second half, lose 23-20 to Green Bay in IFL

What looked like a big night of offense for the Tri-Cities Fever turned into another struggle to score Friday in a 23-20 loss at the Green Bay Blizzard in IFL play.

The Fever (3-11) got off to a quick start with touchdowns on their opening two drives. But the second half turned up zeros as they lost their seventh straight game.

Tri-Cities took advantage of Green Bay’s IFL-worst scoring defense early, thanks to a touchdown throw and then a scoring run by recently signed quarterback Jawad Yatum.

First, Yatum found Chris Gant on a seven-yard touchdown throw to finish the game’s opening drive. The Fever then marched 33 yards on their second drive, capped by Yatum’s 13-yard scoring dash for a 14-0 lead midway through the first period.

Green Bay answered back with a pair of touchdowns, starting with David Toriola’s 11-yard scoop-and-score after Yatum was sacked by Karl Mickelsen. A field goal pulled.

Missed extra points by Green Bay (5-10) left the Fever still ahead 14-12, and Tri-City tacked on another Yatum scoring runs — this one from 4 yards out — to take an eight-point edge into locker room at the half.

The second half was an offensive nightmare, with the Blizzard mustering just 11 points while shutting out Tri-Cities.

The Fever managed just 123 yards of offense, and the teams combined for 306.

This story was originally published June 10, 2016 at 9:05 PM with the headline "Fever blanked in second half, lose 23-20 to Green Bay in IFL."