Sports Page Archive - 2004

[Imperial Sports Page]

The top story of the Sports Page with now be archived in this section of the board. I will do one for each year. Because I started this today, 2004 will only have the top stories from the Conference Championship games and Imperial Bowl II once I get that done.

[Imperial Sports Page]

April 30th, 2005. Conference Championship Games, 2004 season

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Imperial Bowl II All Set

Anchorage, AK. After losing several key players to food poisioning before the AFC championship game, the Hartford Grizzlies then had to make one of the longest treks for a game possible in the Imperial League just to get to the game. Flying from the east coast up to Alaska is no picnic. This is enough to overcome, but then having to play a solid team like the Lynx on the other end of that flight makes it that much harder. Anchorage takes pride in their home field advantage, and it helped them get into Imperial Bowl II. After an early interception, the Lynx jumped on top of Hartford with a FG and two TD's in the second quarter. That is all they ever really needed. Hartford mounted an admirable performance with scrub players picked up this week at RB and LB. They actually ran the ball very well, but could not keep the offense as a whole moving enough to mount a threat. Ten points in the second half of the fourth quarter made this game look closer then it was for most of the contest, as Anchorage won 20-13. For Anchorage, this is a great day. This team was an early favorite in 2003, only to collapse when they lost starting QB Theron Galicia. With Galicia still out for this season, the Lynx drafted a QB in the first round, and never thought they would get to this point. Rookie QB Skip Hildebrand has played well though, and his friendship with RB Isaac Campbell has helped propel this team to great heights. Now we will get to see an interesting matchup in Imperial Bowl II, as the rookie QB will face off against his opposite, Madison's Johnie Loving, who is possibly on his way to retirement.

Madison, WI. It was a battle no one was really sure what to expect of in the NFC Championship game. Salt Lake City upset the favorite Columbia, and their offense was looking unstoppable. Madison, always a blue collar team, had just been puttin' along the way they always have. Not looking real spectacular, but always getting the job done. James Tart started the scoring in this game off with a 3 yard run midway through the 1st quarter. Five minutes later and Nigel Booker was hitting Grady 'Money' Gomez for a 5 yard TD pass to put the Stallions up 14-0. Wasn't looking good for Madison. The second half saw Loving and Booker match TD passes, and halftime had SLC feeling pretty good being up 21-10 with Madison's FG right before the end of the second quarter. Second half adjustments for the Demons though, proved to be perfect. They stopped the SLC offense from moving anywhere near the redzone, and started to chip away at the deficit they had before them. Forcing the Stallions to punt time and time again, and recovering one fumble, gave Madison good field position on most of their drives. They had little ground to cover, and did just enough each time to get FG's. Four FG's by K Paul Pickett gave the Demons a lead of 22-21 with most of the 4th quarter to play. But the Stallion offense still had trouble with the Demon D, and it was increased tenfold when QB Nigel Booker went down with an injury. Madison ended up sealing the victory with a late TD when RB Cody Reyes ran it in from 22 yards out. The Demons advance to Imperial Bowl II with a 29-21 win.

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[Imperial Sports Page]

May 1st, 2005. Imperial Bowl II

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Imperial Bowl II Decided In Last 4 Seconds

Top: Madison Demon kicker Paul Pickett kicks the game winning FG with only seconds left on the clock. This was Pickett's fourth FG of the game, which earned him MVP honors for the game. Pickett also mad 5 FGs in the Conference Championship game to get the Demons into the Imperial Bowl.

Beaumont, TX. In front of a sellout crowd, mostly in the rain, the Anchorage Lynx and Madison Demons battled for the right to be named Imperial League Champions. Unlike last years decisive victory by Orlando over Cleveland, this game came down to the wire. Four seconds left in the game, and the winning points were scored. The game was a battle of fieldgoals for the first half, with Madison's Paul Pickett and Anchorage's Jake Carter taking turns booting the ball through the uprights. The score at the half was 9-6 in favor of Madison. Anchorage started the second half scoring in the same fashion, when Carter hit a 31 yarder with 4 minutes left in the quarter to tie up the game. On the Lynx next drive though, they had a crucial mistake by their rookie QB Skip Hildebrand. After forcing Madison to punt, Hildebrand comes out and throws an interception on the first play by Madison LB James Shade. With the ball on the Anchorage 39 yard line, the Demons offense went with the run and a couple short passes by 16 year veteran QB Johnie Loving. The short drive ended with a 13 yard run around the left end by FB Randy Sparrow. Madison ran 8 plays and ate up 4 minutes to go just 39 yards. The Lynx were not giving up though. When they got the ball back with under five minutes left in the game, trailing by a touchdown, Hildebrand showed the composure of a veteran. He dropped back with the defense gunning for him and hit his receivers all the way down the field. After getting them in front of the endzone, he handed the ball off to RB Isaac Campbell who took it in for a 3 yard touchdown. Then Madison's Johnie Loving showed why he has lasted 16 years in pro football. The Demons started the drive from their own 14 yard line with 2:31 left in the game. Trying to deceive the defense, Madison ran the ball the first two plays. Then a couple of short passes came, followed by an offsides on Anchorage and to balance it out a sack of Loving. With 54 seconds left, Loving then hit WR John Jaime for a huge 39 yard completion. At the Anchorage 25, Madison ran it two times to the 19 yard line, also taking the clock down to 9 seconds. Kicker Paul Pickett then ran onto the field. With the snap of the ball, Pickett and the clock went into motion. He kicked the 36 yard attempt straight through the middle of the uprights, not only securing his teams victory, but also his MVP award.

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