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Wheelers get win No. 100

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By Craig DeVrieze | Saturday, May 17, 2008 11:26 PM CDT | () comments

Elisa Petersen/Quad-City Times Quad-Cities’ Deontrae Johnson, left, dodges Peoria’s Blake Farris during the Wheelers’ victory Saturday. Buy this Photo

It only seemed like the Quad-City Steamwheelers would be stuck on 99 longer than the Chicago Cubs.

The Steamwheelers finally notched the long-awaited 100th victory in franchise history in front of 4,812 fans Saturday at the i wireless Center, drilling downstate rival Peoria 54-27.

The win ended a four-game Q-C losing streak that matched the longest in franchise history.

“That’s not a monkey,’’ coach Troy Biladeau declared of the mammal that was lifted off of his club’s back. “That’s a gorilla.’’

To end what felt like a century-long losing streak, Biladeau leaned on the philosophy famously espoused by former Cubs skipper Leo Durocher.

“I got rid of the no trash-talking rule in practice,’’ Biladeau said of a nice-guys-only rule he instituted in training camp. “We were too nice. And it started with me. I got on some guys in practice this week.’’

The Steamwheelers defenders weren’t particularly nice to Biladeau’s friend and mentor, Peoria coach Bruce Cowdrey.

They forced three turnovers, took advantage of a badly overmatched Peoria offensive line and racked up two Tyus Jackson sacks, three more tackles for loss and six QB hurries.

A secondary bolstered by the return of safety Jordan Davis playing alongside recently re-signed Kevin Adams proved tough to throw against as the Q-C defense logged six stops.

Shifting from frontside corner to backside, Adams snagged a pair of first-half interceptions, including a game-changer he plucked off a wall and returned 45 yards for a score with less than 3 minutes gone in the second quarter.

“That was a great play,’’ Biladeau said of Adams’ score, which gave the Steamwheelers a 21-6 advantage. “That was the turning point. That really got us going.’’

As big, perhaps, was the 3-yard touchdown the Wheelers scored with a second on the clock just ahead of intermission.

With his team scheduled to receive the second-half kickoff, Biladeau said he considered kicking a field goal there, but he was talked out of it by offensive coordinator Shon King.

No more Mr. Nice Guy, indeed.

“I said ‘It had better work,’’’ the head coach said later.

No worries. Quarterback J.J. Raterink pushed an easy-does-it scoring toss to Deontrae Johnson, and the Wheelers hit the locker room with a 28-13 edge and more.

“You could feel not only the team, but the whole crowd get into it,’’ Raterink said of the lift from that score.

Raterink then quickly hit for third-quarter scoring strikes of 33 yards to Kris Peters and 30 to Johnson. And then the Steamwheelers, up 41-20 after three, scored on the second play of the fourth to open a 27-point bulge.

They led 54-20 after forcing a fumble on the ensuing kickoff and then watching Raterink hit a wide open Jesse Schmidt on the following snap.

Rout on. Gorilla gone. No. 100 finally in the books.

“To finally get that for the fans is special,’’ Raterink said after completing 23 of 31 throws for 263 yards and five touchdowns. “I don’t know what happened the last four weeks. But I know we can play this way every week.’’

Biladeau has believed that for a month.

“I believed in this team,’’ he said. “When we were losing four in a row and I didn’t make (many) moves, people probably thought I was crazy. And we finally put one together.’’

Craig DeVrieze can be contacted at (563) 333-2610 or cdevrieze@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com