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Name your score: Wranglers rip Nebraska in near-record shootout
BY Matt Welch, mwelch@starlocalnews.com
ALLEN -- The scoreboard at the Allen Event Center burned its share of midnight oil Saturday.
The Allen Wranglers and Nebraska Danger had plenty to do with that, piling up points at a near-record pace en route to the third-highest-scoring game in IFL history – a contest the Wranglers enjoyed the beneficial end of, 86-57.
“Over the past month, your timing gets a lot better,” said Patrick Pimmel, Allen head coach. “We’ve got a quarterback in here who we think highly of and is doing a good job along with having some good receivers. It’s about buying in and getting protection, and the offense will keep getting better.”
Fans witnessed the other half of that equation Saturday, with Allen’s offense setting a franchise record in points scored and outgaining Nebraska, 367-303. The Wranglers scored on all but one of their 13 drives, totaling 12 touchdowns (one defensive) and one field goal; nine of those scoring drives came in four plays or less.
Allen got the ball rolling 2:10 into the opening quarter after Terrell Owens gained a stout measure of separation to beat Roy Polite for a 21-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead.
Owens finished with 66 yards and two touchdowns on three catches.
The wide out was targeted just six times on the night though, with Allen’s offense spreading the ball among five receivers – four of whom caught three or more passes. That was in large part due to the efficiency from Kasey Printers, now the team’s third starting quarterback in six games. Allen may have found a keeper as Printers completed 14-of-19 passes for 192 yards and three touchdowns.
Three receivers hauled in touchdowns from Printers, including Ryan Moore. Moore, who led the team with 101 receiving yards, snagged a 39-yard touchdown catch for a 45-27 Wranglers lead with 2:24 left in the first half.
The only downside was Printers’ totals all came in the first half after sustaining what Pimmel noted was a thigh injury of uncertain significance.
That left receiver Maurice Avery to fill the void at quarterback, a role he embraced to the tune of 94 passing yards and two touchdowns on 4-of-5 attempts alongside 35 rushing yards and one touchdown.
“I just wanted to come in, manage the game and do what I do,” Avery said. “People don’t know that quarterback was my first position in high school and college.”
The passing was complemented by a benchmark backfield performance from Darius Fudge, who had the Danger off-kilter all night with goal-line tosses that helped account for five rushing touchdowns and a combined 117 yards of offense.
“The toss play is something the defense usually knows is coming,” Fudge said.
“With the receivers that we had tonight, our blocking was very physical. Those are where the big runs come from anyway.”
The Danger never got a beat on either sect of the Allen offense, despite posting a season-high in points. Nebraska had success trading blows early on, as the Wranglers struggled to adjust to receiver Kayne Farquharson. He blistered the secondary for a trio of first-half touchdowns en route to 135 receiving yards and four touchdowns on nine catches.
Despite the receiver lending a hand in 34 Nebraska points by halftime, a lost fumble and missed field goal in the first quarter set the Danger back while the Wranglers continued to score.
Allen aided its cause by not committing a turnover, while forcing four.
That same defense eventually adjusted to Farquharson, matching a slew of different defensive backs on the receiver until a pair of deflections on deep balls by Travonti Johnson predicated a Mike Phillips interception that was subsequently returned 32 yards for a touchdown and 72-44 Allen lead with 9:49 left in the fourth quarter.
The win upped the Wranglers to 5-1 on the season, setting the table for a bye before resuming play against the undefeated Sioux Falls Storm on April 14 from the AEC.
“We’re not where we want to be and we’re grateful to be 5-1,” Pimmel said. “We’ve got to get better if we want to compete for a championship. Sioux Falls comes in here in two weeks and we’ve got to be better.”
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