Wheelers notebook: Bye week comes a bit early

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By Eric Page | Friday, April 4, 2008 12:44 AM CDT | () comments

Just when the Quad-City Steamwheelers were getting things started, they have to sit for a week as other teams from the af2 take the field this weekend.

The Steamwheelers, who opened their season with a 48-41 win over the defending American Conference champion Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers last Friday, have a bye this week before heading to Louisville next weekend.

“Obviously, after a win, you’d like to keep playing,” first-year head coach Troy Biladeau said. “But it is a long season, and you do get two bye weeks. We had a pretty hard camp and got a good win, so we’ve got to look at the positives.”

Biladeau said some players are using this week to heal minor soreness from the opener, while others have taken time to return home to visit their families. But the coach has fielded a few calls from players lamenting the layoff.

“A bye week kind of puts a little damper on our week,” second-year linebacker Malik Jackson said. “But it will give us more time to lock in and get ready for Louisville.”

The Steamwheelers are off the weekend of July 4, but between now and then will play 12 weekends in a row. Naturally, Biladeau would have liked to have seen the breaks spread more evenly throughout the season.

But the week off has allowed the rookie coach to review last week’s film with a finer comb.

“With a bye, we can spend a lot of time on us,” Biladeau said. “Once the season gets going, we’ll spend a lot of time on the opponent. This week, we can look at what we did and see where we need to improve.”

Around the af2

n Mahoning Valley’s John Tackmann, South Georgia’s Cecil Lester and Spokane’s Sergio Gilliam were named af2’s players of the week this week. Tackmann, a receiver/linebacker, ran for three touchdowns and made 6½ tackles to earn Ironman of the Week honors. Lester, a quarterback, completed 27 of 45 passes for 375 yards and seven touchdowns on his way to Offensive Player of the Week honors. Gilliam, a rookie defensive back, grabbed three interceptions to earn Defensive Player of the Week accolades.

n Veteran wide receiver George Williams, who last season led af2 in scoring while playing for Rio Grande Valley, has been assigned to the Boise Burn. The 6-foot-1, 210-pound Williams had 46 touchdowns last season and ranks third all-time in the af2 with 156 scores and 944 points in his career.

Rankings

Here is the Week 2 af2 coaches poll with first-place votes in parenthesis:

Team Record Pts.

1. Tulsa (25) 1-0 430

2. Spokane (2) 1-0 321

3. Central Valley 1-0 300

4. Florida 0-0 292

5. Rio Grande Valley 1-0 281

6. Quad-Cities (1) 1-0 263

7. Louisville 1-0 253

8. South Georgia (1) 1-0 247

9. Arkansas 0-0 187

10. Bossier-Shreveport 0-1 186

11. W-B/Scranton 0-1 175

12. Mahoning Valley 1-0 173

13. Peoria 0-0 130

14. Stockton 1-0 119

15. Green Bay 0-1 118

16. Manchester 0-0 111

Steamwheelers statistics

Passing

Player Comp. Att. Yds. TD Int.

Raterink 20 34 225 7 1

Rushing

Player Att. Yds. TD

Monk 2 6 0

Receiving

Player Rec. Yds. TD

Schmidt 10 101 3

Peters 5 95 2

Johnson 5 29 2

Tackles

Player S A Total

Jackson 10 6 13

Stepter 4 5 6½

Davis 3 2 4