Quad City heat wave takes down Blizzard

The Steamwheelers went home happy with a huge upset win over the number one team in the Eastern Conference, Green Bay Blizzard. Keep reading to see what led to the sQUAD picking up this massive W.

Early in the first quarter the Wheelers didn't waste any time at all and they scored quickly as Judd Erickson connected with Ka'Ron Ashley. Kyle Kaplan lined up for the extra point and kicked up through the uprights to make it a 7-0 lead. 

Kaplan ended the game 3-4 on FG attempts and 3-3 PATs.

The Steamwheeler defense did an amazing job making stops and causing turnover after turnover throughout the matchup. They showed up ready for a Blizzard they only had to deal with light snow.

Later in the quarter Erickson found Ashley again for another touchdown, extending their lead and adding onto the momentum they already accumulated. After a failed 2-pt conversion, Kaplan took the kickoff and turned it into a deuce, nabbing those two points anyway and putting the sQUAD up 14-0.

Before the quarter was up, Dreko Statham recovered a fumble in the endzone after the ball was ripped out of the Blizzard's hands by KeShaun Moore. The call was reversed after Green Bay challenged that the runner was downed before the fumble, which the replay showed his knee was indeed down.

Green Bay was the first to put numbers on the board in the second quarter with a good FG attempt, making it an 11 point game where it was 14-3 with the Wheelers still leading. 

Also during the quarter a great ball from Erickson found Ashley again for a hat trick, picking up 3 tds in the first half with an insane diving grab as he fell into the endzone.  Ashley aka Agent Zer0 ended the night with 3 touchdowns on four receptions with 56 receiving yards.

The Wheeler lead became 21-3 before the Blizzard moved quick and struck for their first touchdown of the night and made it 21-10. 

The Blizzard defense ended up catching Erickson off his game as they picked off a bomb from the Wheelers QB and ran it in for a touchdown, the Steamwheelers challenged this play of the runner being down before he scored the touchdown and the call was overturned.

Green Bay said they were "leaving here with something", then kicked a FG to chop down the deficit to 21-13. Kaplan saw this and was not happy and kicked a FG of his own, giving the sQUAD a 24-10 lead going into the half.

After halftime the third quartered saw both defenses giving their best Brian Dawkins impersonation, both sides were stonewalls that made stops on anything and everything in the quarter.

Green Bay did get one in the end zone however, scoring to make it 24-20 going into the last quarter of the game.

The fourth quarter saw Kap extending the lead to a touchdown and a PAT, soon after the Blizzard tied the game up at 27 with exactly that.

The sQUAD took that tie game personal and a huge dot from Erickson to Newman for a 1st down, this led to Vander running the ball into the end zone to take the lead back, 34-27.

The two newest Steamwheeler additions to the defense made an enormous impact on the defensive end in their debuts, Brian Hughes caused a pass break up that if caught would've put the Blizzard within one point. And a giant pass knockdown by Dreko Statham, both newcomers showed up huge in back to back plays.

The cherry on top was Kaplan sending another FG through the uprights to make it a 10 point lead with under a minute left. And as the clock ran out and time expired, the Wheeler defense forced a fumble and recovered it to seal the Upset and home victory.

This 37-27 win brings the Steamwheelers to 6-6 on the year,and batting .500 as a unit. It also drops Green Bay to 10-3 on the year, tying them with the Frisco Fighters who are also 10-3, fighting for the number one spot in the Eastern Conference.

The next battle for the sQUAD will be against the Massachusetts Pirates in a big road matchup on July 1st.