CIFL 2009: Week 4: Chicago Slaughter vs Rock River Raptors

[Tannerman]

Last Friday, I once again headed out to Hoffman Estates to catch a CIFL game. This time, it was the Chicago Slaughter (2-0) vs. the Rock River Raptors (0-2), who play up I-90 in Rockford, IL -- a place I hold near and dear to my heart, after spending a summer there in the '90s working for CBS affiliate WIFR-23. Good ole Rockford!

Sergeant Slaughter & Steve

Based on the dominant outcome of the first Slaughter game that Amy & I attended, along with their performance on the road in Week 3 (after a Week 2 bye), we debated attending any more games. I mean, if they were going to be blowouts, why bother?

George & Steve, sitting next to the wall

However, thanks some tickets from long-time indoor football fan Brusier (also a member on the TannerWorld Junction discussion forums), I made the trip with my friend George... who had never seen an AFL or CIFL game in person, so I thought it would be a good experience for him. Thanks again, Bruiser!

Seating locations in the Sears Centre


Video: Atmosphere at the game

Unlike the game Amy & I attended where we sat in the upper deck (Section 216), this time we sat at floor level, right next to the sideboards near one of the endzones (Section 106). I had never sat this close during an indoor football game before. Prior to this, the closest I'd ever been was row 3 behind Allstate Arena's east endzone back in 2004... and that was because I had blogged about bathroom hand dryers!

Enough said

From what I read about the Week 3 game, things had been quite "snippy" out on the field for the Chicago Slaughter players, especially those that were former Chicago Rush players... which fans have nicknamed the "Slush". Combined with some officiating that seemed to not keep the game under control, one wondered how this home game against Rockford would go.

Our view of the players was pretty darn good

Incidentally, useless piece of trivia time... the first Arena Football "test game" took place in Rockford in 1986 between two invented teams, the Rockford Metros and Chicago Politicians. They played at the arena where the visiting team (Rock River Raptors) plays, the Rockford MetroCentre.

A little smack courtesy of the scoreboard

The Raptors were originally known as the Tennessee Valley Vipers and played in Huntsville, AL, as part of Arena Football's official minor league, af2.

Video: Playcalling by Rock River Raptors coach

The owner eventually renamed the team a couple times (Tennessee Valley Pythons, Tennessee Valley Raptors), moved them to Rockford, switched leagues (from af2 to UFL to CIFL), and ended up with the team in green & white that we saw play as the Rock River Raptors. At the same time, a new af2 team has assumed the Tennessee Valley Vipers name under different ownership. How confusing!

I had to laugh when the cheerleaders appeared...


... because they got more photographic coverage than than game!

The game itself got off to a fast start... at least for the Slaughter, who jumped ahead to a double digit lead early in the 1st Quarter. However, after that, things got sloppy, with penalties, mishaps, and just sluggishness coming over the team.

Video: Touchdown by Rock River Raptors

There also seemed to be quite a bit of bad blood and trash talking, resulting in more penalties, one Rock River player being ejected, some scuffles between players sitting in the team sideline boxes, and pushing and shoving on the field. Yeah, the refs had this game under control... not so much. It wasn't anything too extreme, but listening to the comments that the refs were providing the officials/media table next to us, there seemed to be a lot of confusion.

West Endzone Attendance Check?
Reported game attendance: 3,222

As far as attendance, there was a 1,500+ person drop between home games, as the Week 1 game reported 4,798, while this Week 4 game came in at 3,222. Season openers tend to have higher numbers than other games because of increased promotion, giveaways, and folks "sampling" the product, so it will be interesting to see if the next home game is at the same level or not.

Either get a shorter team name or more guys!


I sat next to #88's wife

I was pleased to find an increase in the number of promotions run during the game vs. the home opener we saw a couple weeks back. The overall production values of promotions, team announcements, and public address coverage saw vast improvement. Conversation was also interesting as I sat next to the wife of one of the Slaughter players (OL #88 Rasche Hill). He's a tall guy at 6'8"!

#23 DeJuan Alfonzo goes down with injury

On the bummer side of things, former Rush star DeJuan Alfonzo (who finally had his name pronounced correctly by the PA guy) fell to an injury that appeared to be in the ankle/knee/leg variety. He walked off the field with help and was limping. Hopefully, it's nothing too serious... it's a wait-and-see at this point.

Meeting Jerome Cusson

I was able to meet both Jerome Cusson and Adam Rosen, freelance writers for The Chicago Sports Review and the guys who graciously allowed me to reprint their Week 3 story on the Slaughter away game. We talked shop a little about local media, coverage of the AFL & CIFL, and how best to handle reporting for such niche audiences. Good stuff. (You'll find their take on this game here, complete with video.)

When player is thrown over wall, snap photo quickly and move!

Overall, it actually was a positive experience. I mean, sure, Chicago beat Rock River 69-38, bringing the Slush to 3-0 for the season. But it was nice to see things so up close, revealing a little bit more about the operations side of the game. My friend George also enjoyed himself -- even when a Rock River player was thrown over the wall next to him and landed within inches. You can't beat that!

Thanks for the seats, Bruiser (left)

Thanks again to Bruiser for hooking me up with seats for this game. We enjoyed the experience and appreciate the gesture!

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[Tannerman]

Here's the game recap story written by Jerome Cusson for The Chicago Sports Review, with video provided by Adam Rosen:

Slaughter Keep Rolling
by Jerome Cusson

In another ugly game, the Chicago Slaughter returned to the form of their first game as they defeated the Rock River Raptors 69-38 and remained undefeated with a 3-0 record.

[youtubehq]xbfxYwvM7hU[/youtubehq]
Video: Interview with players by Adam Rosen

Russ Michna dominated the offensive portion of the game as he rebounded from a poor effort in Madison last week. The return of wide receiver Donovan Morgan likely contributed to Michna's much-improved stats. Going 17-26 for 280 yards and seven touchdowns did not leave Michna satisfied.

"The thing that frustrates me is we still had a few bad plays," Michna said, "You know we had issues with the snap and a few where the ball was in the wrong place. But other than that, I was real impressed with our receivers. "He also added, "I hope that teams keep trying to blitz us. It certainly makes the game a lot easier."

Morgan returned this week after missing the game in Madison because of family issues. His impact could be felt early as he caught the second touchdown of the game, and he ended up with seven catches for 111 touchdowns and three touchdowns.

"We have the best quarterback in this league and any league," Morgan said about Michna, "It's difficult to keep everybody's head in the game because we're on the sidelines for extended periods of time. But perfect practice makes perfect and that's something we're going to be working on."

Michna certainly appreciated his Rush teammate from last year being back for this game.

"Donovan's a special football player," Michna said, "I don't care what level you're at."

Dontrell Jackson, a big beneficiary of Morgan's return, caught seven passes for 126 yards and two touchdowns.

In addition, the Slaughter defense once again became the focal point during the game as both linebacker DeJuan Alfonzo and Dennison Robinson scored touchdowns after interceptions. Alfonzo did leave the game in the third quarter with an injury just below his knee. No word on how serious the injury turned out to be, although he was on the field after the game signing autographs.

The game was also once again marred with cheap shots and a number of personal fouls. Rock River offensive lineman Joe Lara was even thrown out of the game. Towards the end of the half the Slaughter and Raptors began yelling at each other while everyone was on the benches, with both teams' benches being on the same side of the field and right next to each other.

"You know it's an emotional game," Michna said, "We've got some guys who get excited out there, and that comes with the game. You know, I'd rather have it that way then have guys who didn't care. At the same time you're worried about protecting yourself out there every once in a while. Hopefully we get this cleaned up, and hopefully this gets back to a professional level. There was a moment in time towards the end of the half when I was embarrassed to be on that field with the jawing and the confrontations. That's not what this game is supposed to be about, and especially for the crowd, the kids."

The Slaughter next play at the Wheeling Wildcats on April 4, who are 0-1 as of this writing.

Other Notes: Former Rush coach Mike Hohensee was at the game once again. After drawing 4,798 for their opener, the Slaughter drew 3,222 at the Sears Centre. Their next home game for Slaughter is on April 11 against the Marion Mayhem at 7:05 p.m.

Source

(C) 2009 Jerome Cusson - Used by Permission

Glad to assist with the indoor football experience from a different vantage point. LMK when you have the urge again, we'll be able to hook ya up somehow.

To add to the "useless piece of trivia" re: the 1986 Arena Football "test game" in Rockford...
Rockford's current head coach, Dave Jones, played in that game.

http://www.raptorsindoorfootball.com...=details&id=23

[Tannerman]

Apparently, after Rockford lost to Chicago, they fired their defensive coordinator:

Raptors Dismiss Assistant Coach
Jay Taft
March 30, 2009

ROCKFORD — On Saturday night, the Rock River Raptors lost their third straight game to open the season.

On Monday, they lost their defensive coordinator.

“When you start 0-3, it’s kind of time for a change,” General Manager Dave DeSanti said. “There will be a new defensive coordinator coming in; we’re just not sure who just yet.”

The team has a short list of four names which were not provided during Monday’s news conference. They hope to replace the fired Chris Pivovar by midweek, but they have a contingency plan in place just in case it takes longer than expected.

“If I have to,” head coach Dave Jones said, “I’ll be the defensive coordinator for a game. We just knew we needed to start addressing some issues.”

After giving up an average of 54 points a game in the first three weeks — worst in the league through three games — Jones learned that many of those issues were on the defensive side of the ball. The Raptors are last in the league in overall defense (237.3 yards per game) and worst against the pass (200.7 yards per game) as well.

Raptors slow out of gates:
The Raptors failed to score in the first quarter of the last two games, and scored only six in their season-opening first quarter against Wisconsin.

While they’ve bounced back with two TDs in all three second quarters of the season, the hole they’ve dug early on in games has been too much to overcome so far.

“I think everybody’s on the same page in that we have to fix some things this week, and we need this win,” wide receiver Zontavius Johnson said. “We’ve got to just calm down and get out there and score on our first drive. That will go a long ways for this team.”

Raptors lead league:
Despite first-quarter troubles, Rock River quarterback Brian Ryczkowski is leading the league in touchdowns, throwing for 14 and rushing for three more through the first three games of the season. Ryczkowski has one more TD than Chicago’s Russ Michna.

Raptors wide receiver Bryce Stephens II leads the league in touchdown catches (seven) and points per game (15.3), and kick returner Justin Opengo is No. 1 in the CIFL with 383 return yards.

Run game comes around:
Because of incorrect information provided, it was reported that the Raptors gained only four yards on the ground last week. They actually had their best rushing game of the season during Saturday’s 69-38 loss to Chicago. New running back Brian Jennings had 56 yards on 12 carries for a 4.7 yards per carry average, and Ryczkowski rushed for 35 yards, but lost 22 of those in the stats to sacks.

Overall, Rock River gained 69 yards on the ground while holding Slaughter to minus-17 yards rushing. However, Chicago outgained the Raptors 280-92 through the air.

Source