Vesey and sQUAD stomp the Sharks on a Saturday Night

On Saturday, the Quad City Steamwheelers defended home turf and defeated the Jacksonville Sharks, who were making their first trip to Moline, IL in franchise history, 62-41. The sQUAD used a combination of a consistent offensive attack to keep the pressure on and a stifling defense, which, despite allowing 41 points, made many crucial stops down the stretch and forced turnovers that hurt the Sharks.

Right out of the gates, Sharks' kicker Marc Orozco nailed a deuce on the opening kickoff, which gave the Sharks the lead before their first offensive possession. Jacksonville felt even better when quarterback Daquan Neal threw his first interception of the season. Still, their good feelings were immediately dashed when quarterback Kaleb Barker fumbled the handoff, which linebacker Bubba Arslanian scooped up to give the ball right back to Quad City. The Wheelers' offense wasted no time when Neal found receiver Jordan Vesey, who muscled his way into the endzone through defenders from 14 yards out, giving Quad City the early 7-2 lead. 

On their next drive, Barker tried to keep it himself on fourth down, but he fumbled the ball, which was recovered by defensive back Camron Harrell. The Neal-Vesey connection was renewed once again when Vesey caught Neal's deep ball over the defensive back, and despite losing his helmet in the process, held on for the 37-yard highlight-worthy touchdown, which extended the lead to 14-2. Jacksonville responded when Edward Vander, a former Steamwheeler making his return to the Quad Cities, took the pitch into the endzone for a touchdown to cut their deficit to 14-11 after another deuce from Orozco. 

The Steamwheeler offense continued where they left off when Neal found running back Gino Appleberry wide open from 14 yards out in the endzone for another touchdown. The next few drives saw a Sharks' turnover on downs, and another Daquan Neal interception, where the Sharks finally converted on a long pass from Barker to receiver Jaedon Stoshack for a 45-yard touchdown to cut the Quad City lead to 21-18. Neal responded with a 26-yard strike to Davion Johnson down the middle of the field for another touchdown, and with little time on the clock, the Quad City defense forced a field goal. With eight seconds left and the ball at their own 20-yard line, Neal found his favorite target of the night in Vesey, who scrambled his way into the endzone with zeros on the clock for the touchdown. 

Right out of halftime, Vander yet again torched the Wheelers' defense for a 31-yard touchdown on the first play of the half to cut the Steamwheelers' lead to 35-28. Despite only managing to get a Kyle Kaplan 34-yard field goal on their next possession, Arslanian made a miraculous diving interception on a Barker throw on the next Sharks' drive and ran back to the ten-yard line while breaking tackles from seemingly every Jacksonville player on the field to electrify the arena. Neal followed it up with a touchdown run on the next play that extended the lead to 45-28.

The two teams traded touchdowns from a Barker sneak and an Appleberry run from 18 yards out, where Kaplan converted a deuce on the kickoff. After trading more possessions without scores, Blaine Espinosa came in at quarterback for Jacksonville, where on his first play, he fumbled in the end zone, which was recovered by KeShaun Moore for the Wheelers' touchdown to put the icing on the cake. With no time left, Espinosa found another ex-Steamwheeler, Ka'ron Ashley, for the touchdown, but that was all she wrote for the 62-41 Quad City win.

Despite throwing his first two interceptions of the season, Daquan Neal had a solid game, throwing for 130 yards and five touchdowns in the air while adding 63 yards and another score on the ground. Gino Appleberry ran for 54 yards and a score, while catching two passes for 23 yards and another touchdown. Jordan Vesey caught three passes for 81 yards and three touchdowns, and Davion Johnson caught one pass for 26 yards and a touchdown. Bubba Arslanian had himself a night on the defense with nine tackles, a fumble recovery and an interception, while Camron Harrell had a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.

With the win, the sQUAD now sit at 5-0 to keep its stranglehold on the rest of the Eastern Conference with a two-game cushion. Next week, the Wheelers will start their two-game road trip when they travel to Fishers, Indiana, for the first time to take on the 2-3 Freight, who are on a three-game losing streak after starting 2-0.