Out of their 'Wheel house: Steamwheelers miss many chances on road

Font Size:

By Craig DeVrieze | Saturday, May 12, 2007 11:31 PM CDT | () comments

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The Quad-City Steamwheelers left home on Friday without their kicker and one of their top pass rushers.

They will come home with a three-game losing streak.

The Steamwheelers lost 53-51 to the Alabama Steeldogs on Saturday and were left to agonize over any number of what-could-have-beens.

Fill-in kicker Wade Talachka, who drove from Louisville to join the club just ahead of the contest, missed three of six point-after attempts. The Steamwheelers also failed on a pair of 2-point conversion attempts, suffered a first-half safety after a fumble in the end zone and had a botched onsides kick attempt to boot.

That is a recipe for major frustration.

“Make any of those plays and it’s a tie ballgame or we win,’’ head coach Sean Ponder said. “This is nothing I’m going to sleep very good on.’’

Because of complex travel arrangements, the Steamwheelers will not fly home until Monday night.

Waiting for them in the Quad-Cities will be kicker Kimo Neahu, who was a late scratch for the trip because of an unspecified injury, and defensive end Shonn Bell, who was suspended for undisclosed reasons and did not make the trip.

Bell’s future status will be determined later this week, Steamwheelers managing partner Mike Bawden said from Alabama after Saturday’s loss.

He said the club, though, is hoping Naehu can kick Friday when the road-weary Wheelers (3-3) kickoff a welcomed streak of three straight home game games.

Saturday completed a run of five road games over the season’s first six games. They will play seven of their final 10 games at The Mark of the Quad-Cities. And Ponder figures his club can make the postseason by running the table at home.

The Steamwheelers never led Saturday and the loss was more narrow than it might have been had Steeldogs quarterback Mitch Tanney, who played college ball in Monmouth, Ill., not fumbled inside the final 15 seconds with the hosts nursing a 53-44 lead.

Still, there is no overlooking the missed opportunities and the missing players.

Talachka, who kicked in eight games for two af2 teams a year ago, picked up the telephone in a marketing office at Churchill Downs in Louisville on Friday afternoon and then drove south all day Saturday to tee it up for the Wheelers.

“Missing (Naehu) was huge for us,” Ponder said. “Hats off to Wade for coming in but he didn’t play well.”

The Steamwheelers didn’t play well early and trailed 26-12 after a first half in which they ran 13 plays to Alabama’s 28 and gained 74 yards to the Steeldogs’ 160.

Intermission completed a stretch in which the Steamwheelers scored only six touchdowns over an eight-quarter span.

The offense, though, got on track in the second half, scoring on every possession, including a pair of one-play long-distance strikes by quarterback J.J. Raterink.

The embattled starting quarterback had a strong night, finishing 23-for-32 for 288 yards and seven touchdowns.

Receiver Tom Anthony had 10 catches for 130 yards and two scores, while Jack Walker Jr. reeled in three fourth-quarter touchdowns among his eight catches for 96 yards. Kris Peters made five catches, three of those one-handed and one of those for a touchdown that drew the Wheelers to within a two-point conversion of tying the contest with just more than 9 minutes left.

They couldn’t convert.

For that and all the kicking adventures, the game might have turned on a first-half safety when Raterink fumbled under heavy pressure and recovering lineman Andy Endemann was tackled in the end zone.

That made it 16-6 and an ensuing Steeldogs touchdown after the free kick forced the struggling visitors to fight from too far behind the rest of the way.

The three straight losses fully steal the momentum from a 3-0 start.

“I don’t mind losing now and again,” Ponder said on the WOC 1420 AM postgame radio show, “but three in a row is eating me up.”

Still, he said, this is a season that is a long way from finished. And the Steamwheelers can look forward to the comforts of home much of the rest of the way.

“Now we get to go home to our screaming fans at The Mark and put on a show,” Ponder said.