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Cardinals Digest
Volume #1, Issue #1
Monday July 12th 2004
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Cardinals Win A Battle Of (For?) The Birds
Over 70,000 fans packed Will Rogers Memorial Stadium in Tulsa on Sunday to witness their Tulsa Eagles battle the St. Louis Cardinals in the innagural IFL matchup for both teams, it wasn't pretty.
4 Tulsa turnovers and helped overcome an inept 4/13 on 3rd downs the by the woeful Cardinals offense. If not for the staunch buckling down of the young, vaunted Cardinals defense, things could have been real ugly. "We knew coming into the season that we were gonna have to rely heavily on our defense, and things held true to form out there today, but they came thru for us in a big way", said Head Coach Tyrell Nichols.
Things started off ominously for the visiting Cardinals, a 3 and out on the first possesion in franchise histroy and a serious injury to starting WLB Walter Borja on Tulsas first play from scrimmage, a false start.
Tulsa drove to the into Cardinal territory on their next 2 possesions but interceptions from LB Robert Yates and Safety Richard White would close the door on Eagles' drives. Tulsas longest drive, a 64 yard march capped by a Colin Blain 2 yard TD run would put Tulsa up 7-0 early in the 2nd quarter, the tide however, would soon turn.
A Zachary Coward hit on punt returner Man Perales knocked the ball free and put St. Louis in it's best field position of the day, they continued to flounder on offense but the field position was enough to allow Boyce Hedden to connect on a 38 yard FG attempt and move the visitors within 4.
After stopping Tulsa near mid field on their next drive, the Cardinals offense finnaly got in gear, moving 60 yards in just under 6 minutes, Heddens second FG of the day would make it 7-6 at halftime.
Tulsa opened the 3rd quarter with a solid drive but Elden Sheppards 50 yard FG attempt fell short.
The Cardinals countered with another 3 and out but Drew Sandstroms interception off of Tulsa QB Devon Taylor, his 3rd of the day, set St. Louis up in solid position again. A 3rd Hedden FG was countered by another solid Tulsa drive but again the endzone was off limits, Sheppards FG gave the Eagles a 10-9 lead as the 3rd quarter ended.
A 33 yard kickoff return by Reggie Barnes set off St. Louis' best drive of the day as the final quarter began.
A 19 yard pass to Zachery Hall and 14 and 10 yard connections to Alfonso McGriff were the highlights of McMurrays day and the drive. The drive culminated in yet another Hedden FG and a 12-10 lead for the Cardinals.
The teams would trade the ball over the next 6 minutes and back to back plays, a Walter McKelvey run for 14 yards and a McMurray pass to Simon Thompson for 10 yards put St. Louis in strong enough field position to control the field and run out the clock, one last gasp possesion by Tulsa fell woefully short as St. Louis wrapped up a 15-10 win.
In the end it was the St. Louis secondary, led by Drew Sandstrom and Charles Yon, as well as a swarming LB corps that helped put a lid on Tulsas offense and seal the deal for the Redbirds in their first ever IFL game.
Borja Out For Season
Vaunted WLB Walter Borja aggravated a bone spur in his heel on his first play from scrimmage on Sunday that team doctors feel could sideline the star for the rest of the season. "It's not an injury that heals quickly, it requires complete rest to even begin to repair itself and even then there are no guarantees, it's worse than break, it's devestating" said team physician Bob Stinson. Borja was unavailable for comment as of press time, but coach Nichols did say that Borja would travel home from Tulsa following the game and simply "rest it" for the next 2 months, at which point the situation would be re-evaluated.
The 2nd key injury to the team, and the Linebacker corps came later in the game when SLB Robert Yates sprained his knee on a blitz. While the injury is not as serious as Borjas, it is expected to keep Yates out next weeks game, and perhaps the next 2. "He could probably play if it were the Imperial Bowl", Nichols said to reports following the game, "But it's only week 2, and we've already lost 1 guy, i'm not gonna risk losing another, it may be the only position on the team were we have the depth to move a guy in and not fall off the face of the earth talent wise, so i guess that's the silver lining to this cloud."
Center Abel Boyds wrist sprain will keep him out of practice all week as well as out of next weeks game against Boston, the young Center eyes a week 3 return, and the overmatched Offensive Line looks forward to having him back.
Weekly Stars
Tight End Alfonso McGriffs 7 catches for 88 yards and Kicker Boyce Heddens 5-5 FG day were about the only bright spots in the season opener.
A strong day by Safety Gil Langevin who racked up 8 Tackles and assisted on 4 others was accompanied by 3 Interceptions, 1 each for Drew Sandstrom, Robert Yates and Richard White. In the end was a defensive struggle, and on this day, the Cardinals defense came up with the right plays, at the right times, on the right spots on the field.
Volume #1, Issue #1
Monday July 12th 2004
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cardinals Win A Battle Of (For?) The Birds
Over 70,000 fans packed Will Rogers Memorial Stadium in Tulsa on Sunday to witness their Tulsa Eagles battle the St. Louis Cardinals in the innagural IFL matchup for both teams, it wasn't pretty.
4 Tulsa turnovers and helped overcome an inept 4/13 on 3rd downs the by the woeful Cardinals offense. If not for the staunch buckling down of the young, vaunted Cardinals defense, things could have been real ugly. "We knew coming into the season that we were gonna have to rely heavily on our defense, and things held true to form out there today, but they came thru for us in a big way", said Head Coach Tyrell Nichols.
Things started off ominously for the visiting Cardinals, a 3 and out on the first possesion in franchise histroy and a serious injury to starting WLB Walter Borja on Tulsas first play from scrimmage, a false start.
Tulsa drove to the into Cardinal territory on their next 2 possesions but interceptions from LB Robert Yates and Safety Richard White would close the door on Eagles' drives. Tulsas longest drive, a 64 yard march capped by a Colin Blain 2 yard TD run would put Tulsa up 7-0 early in the 2nd quarter, the tide however, would soon turn.
A Zachary Coward hit on punt returner Man Perales knocked the ball free and put St. Louis in it's best field position of the day, they continued to flounder on offense but the field position was enough to allow Boyce Hedden to connect on a 38 yard FG attempt and move the visitors within 4.
After stopping Tulsa near mid field on their next drive, the Cardinals offense finnaly got in gear, moving 60 yards in just under 6 minutes, Heddens second FG of the day would make it 7-6 at halftime.
Tulsa opened the 3rd quarter with a solid drive but Elden Sheppards 50 yard FG attempt fell short.
The Cardinals countered with another 3 and out but Drew Sandstroms interception off of Tulsa QB Devon Taylor, his 3rd of the day, set St. Louis up in solid position again. A 3rd Hedden FG was countered by another solid Tulsa drive but again the endzone was off limits, Sheppards FG gave the Eagles a 10-9 lead as the 3rd quarter ended.
A 33 yard kickoff return by Reggie Barnes set off St. Louis' best drive of the day as the final quarter began.
A 19 yard pass to Zachery Hall and 14 and 10 yard connections to Alfonso McGriff were the highlights of McMurrays day and the drive. The drive culminated in yet another Hedden FG and a 12-10 lead for the Cardinals.
The teams would trade the ball over the next 6 minutes and back to back plays, a Walter McKelvey run for 14 yards and a McMurray pass to Simon Thompson for 10 yards put St. Louis in strong enough field position to control the field and run out the clock, one last gasp possesion by Tulsa fell woefully short as St. Louis wrapped up a 15-10 win.
In the end it was the St. Louis secondary, led by Drew Sandstrom and Charles Yon, as well as a swarming LB corps that helped put a lid on Tulsas offense and seal the deal for the Redbirds in their first ever IFL game.
Borja Out For Season
Vaunted WLB Walter Borja aggravated a bone spur in his heel on his first play from scrimmage on Sunday that team doctors feel could sideline the star for the rest of the season. "It's not an injury that heals quickly, it requires complete rest to even begin to repair itself and even then there are no guarantees, it's worse than break, it's devestating" said team physician Bob Stinson. Borja was unavailable for comment as of press time, but coach Nichols did say that Borja would travel home from Tulsa following the game and simply "rest it" for the next 2 months, at which point the situation would be re-evaluated.
The 2nd key injury to the team, and the Linebacker corps came later in the game when SLB Robert Yates sprained his knee on a blitz. While the injury is not as serious as Borjas, it is expected to keep Yates out next weeks game, and perhaps the next 2. "He could probably play if it were the Imperial Bowl", Nichols said to reports following the game, "But it's only week 2, and we've already lost 1 guy, i'm not gonna risk losing another, it may be the only position on the team were we have the depth to move a guy in and not fall off the face of the earth talent wise, so i guess that's the silver lining to this cloud."
Center Abel Boyds wrist sprain will keep him out of practice all week as well as out of next weeks game against Boston, the young Center eyes a week 3 return, and the overmatched Offensive Line looks forward to having him back.
Weekly Stars
Tight End Alfonso McGriffs 7 catches for 88 yards and Kicker Boyce Heddens 5-5 FG day were about the only bright spots in the season opener.
A strong day by Safety Gil Langevin who racked up 8 Tackles and assisted on 4 others was accompanied by 3 Interceptions, 1 each for Drew Sandstrom, Robert Yates and Richard White. In the end was a defensive struggle, and on this day, the Cardinals defense came up with the right plays, at the right times, on the right spots on the field.
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