Wheelers survive freight-ening scare in overtime and derail Fishers

On Saturday, the Quad City Steamwheelers escaped the Fishers Event Center with a 55-48 win against the Fishers Freight in what was the most competitive game of the season for the sQUAD. In the first matchup between Quad City and Fishers in series history, both offenses showed why they were ranked in the top half of the league. While the Steamwheelers used a steady passing game, the Freight's potent running offense ran with great success, but not enough to secure the win.

On their first drive of the game, Fishers showcased their elite rushing abilities right away, when running back, and former Steamwheeler, Shane Simpson, ran it three times for a total of 21 yards, including a nine-yard touchdown run to get the Freight on the board with an early 7-0 lead. Not to be outdone, the Wheelers drove right back down with a pair of receptions from Keyvan Rudd, who set up a handoff for receiver Jordan Vesey to run it in from five yards out, making it 7-7, but a deuce from Kyle Kaplan gave Quad City a 9-7 lead.

Once again, the Freight used runs from Simpson and quarterback Jiya Wright to quickly get into the redzone, where Wright found wideout Jordan Kress in the end zone for a touchdown. After a good return from Camron Harrell on the kickoff, quarterback Daquan Neal zipped a pass to Rudd, who muscled and reached across the goal line for the score that handed Quad City the 16-14 lead. On the following Fishers' drive, Simpson again found a hole in the defense and ran for the 23-yard score. Finally, both defenses got much-needed stops as both teams took turns giving the ball back, before Neal found Demry Croft in the end zone for a 15-yard score to give the Wheelers the 24-21 lead after a missed PAT and another deuce on the kickoff.

With 3:50 left in the second quarter, the Freight started at their own five, but the handoff between Wright and Simpson was fumbled before Malik Duncan swooped in for the fumble recovery inside the five-yard line. That turnover led directly to a Neal rushing touchdown that moved the score to 31-21, and before half, the Steamwheelers forced another Wright fumble, which Bubba Arslanian recovered. 

Right out of halftime, the Wheelers' offense hit a rut, and their first three possessions of the second half resulted in an interception, a bad snap on a field goal, and a turnover on downs. Meanwhile, the Freight turned it over on downs, but also scored touchdowns on an 11-yard run from Simpson and a two-yard run from Wright that gave the Freight the 34-31 lead.

The Wheelers finally returned to the scoresheet after a 27-yard Kaplan field goal that tied the game at 34. The next Fishers' drive ended in another Wright rushing touchdown that gave them the 41-34 lead with only 6:41 left in the fourth quarter. Not wasting any time, Neal quickly found Vesey in the end zone on the first play of the Quad City drive from 26 yards out to tie the game again.

Fishers used their running game to their advantage on the next possession and drained the clock under the one-minute mark when another Simpson run found the end zone for a touchdown. With only 56 seconds left, Neal drove the ball down the field with the help of Jarrod Ware Jr. inside the five-yard line. With ten seconds left and no timeouts on the two-yard line, Neal found Ware Jr. for the touchdown to tie the game.

Quad City got possession first in overtime, and on the first play, Neal yet again found Vesey in the endzone for the 20-yard touchdown to take the lead. After a few plays in their possession, the Freight faced a fourth and goal from the three-yard line. The Wheelers' defense had to make the biggest stop of their season to win and remain undefeated. When Wright dropped back to pass, the Steamwheeler defense came through and forced a fumble, which was forced and recovered by David Cagle to end the game, giving the Wheelers the 55-48 win.

Though he only completed nine out of 21 passes, Neal threw for 100 yards and five touchdowns, adding 29 yards on the ground and a rushing score to his MVP-hopeful campaign. Jarrod Ware Jr. ran for 38 yards and caught one pass for two yards and a score. Vesey caught two passes for 46 yards and two touchdowns, while the veteran Rudd caught five passes for 37 yards and a score. On the defensive side, defensive linemen KeShaun Moore and David Cagle forced fumbles, and Arslanian, Cagle, and Duncan recovered fumbles for the defense.

With the win, and the Arizona Rattlers falling to the Tucson Sugar Skulls, the sQUAD are the last remaining undefeated team in the IFL this season at 6-0. The dream season continues for the Wheelers next week on May 10 at 3:05 p.m. in Green Bay, when they face off against the Blizzard for a rematch of this year's week one game, where Quad City defeated Green Bay 39-37.