Barnstormers Overcome Long Delay to Grab First Home Win

While high winds, hail and tornadoes bustled around Central Iowa, the Iowa Barnstormers created their own storm by defeating the Arizona Rattlers 56-54 on Saturday night.

However, there was a stoppage in play at the 7:15 mark in the second quarter as a severe  thunderstorm rushed through downtown Des Moines. Fans were advised to evacuate, but the offensive star of the game was worried about one of the fans in the stands.

When the Emergency Alert System went off, Jesse Schmidt had one thing on his mind and it wasn't defeating the Rattlers. Schmidt's little sister, Jacqulyn Stewart, is nine months pregant and just like any brother does for a sibling, her safety was top priority at that moment.

"I ripped off my shoulder pads, went up into the stands, and told her 'No, you're not going anywhere in this weather,' and on top of that, my daughter and mom were in my apartment, so I was very worried," said Schmidt. "Family definintely came first in that situation."

All members of the Schmidt crew were safe as well as all 7,921 who braved the elements.

While that was going on, General Manager John Pettit and Director of Events Ryan Ziegler were trying to coordinate a plan during the delay.
"It's really not uncommon for something like this to go off," said Ziegler. "I thought our entire staff did an amazing job."

Pettit has also seen something like this, but not in Arena Football.

"I've been in the sports business for 30 years, so I've pretty much have seen everything," said Pettit. "However, this was a crazy, but I've seen crazier."

Even team president Jeff Lamberti tweeted this during the delay (@stormerone): "What other sport but arena football can u have a power outage, emergency to evacuate, and still see a hell of a game!! Love ArenaBall!!"

Iowa played with a little more maturity as the team is starting to learn more about themselves day-by-day.

"We had a feeling all week," said Head Coach Mike Hohensee. "We fell in love wit hour gameplan, and we convinced our players that we can step out of the dark and enter that light. That was a great win for a young football team."

The team knew that they needed this win badly.

"We lost in overtime last time at home and kinda let one go against Utah, and we could easily be sitting with an even better record than what we have," said Hohensee.

"We're a talented team, and I sure hope people realize that," said defensive leader Jason Simpson. "We didn't make as many mistakes tonight, and we forced turnovers. We got to (Nick) Davila."

Not only did the defense play well, the offense was clicking as well.

QB J.J. Raterink threw seven touchdowns on the night while six of those were caught by Schmidt. Schmidt didn't reach his personal game high of seven, which he got most recently on April 16 of last year when Brad Banks was then-quarterback.

"It was what was working," Schmidt said. "A big for us against a great team. I'm proud to be a Barnstormer tonight."

Raterink realizes however that winning to Schmidt means more than building up his stat line.

"Last week was one of the few times Jesse didn't catch a TD pass, but he was so happy to get the win, and that rubbed off on the team," Raterink said. "That's the type of person he is. He never complained about it, but we definitely do have a little similar mindset going for us."

What does this win mean to a team who is now 3-2 on the season?

"Beating a team like that is certainly beneficial to our psyche," said Raterink, who ended up with 256 yards passing.

Kicker Chris Camay had some troubles by missing a couple point-after-attempts in in the beginning three quarters, but when Camay came up to attempt the PAT late in the fourth, the ball was placed perfectly down the middle.

"That was the biggest weight off my shoulder all year," said Camay. "I struggled today, no question. But all the guys left me alone and let me do my thing."

Camay felt the pressure leading up to the kick.

"I knew I had to make that last one," he said.

Even though the rain, wind and hail brought a delay to the game, Schmidt points out that there was something brewing afterwards.

"There was a black storm outside, but there was a black storm inside as well."

Every 15 Minutes

In 15 minutes from now, you’ll be finished reading this piece of this edition and move on with your day. In 15 minutes from now, you’ll still be thinking about this piece.

In 15 minutes from now, another high school-aged teenager will tragically die due to a car accident via a drunk driver or texting while driving.

On Thursday afternoon, Carlisle High School students received a rude awakening as the “Every 15 Minutes” program came into the Warren County town and touched a lot of hearts.

The Every 15 Minutes program is a national coalition designed to bring awareness to high school students that drinking or texting while being behind the wheel could bring severe consequences.

Take Carlisle senior Corbin Clark for example.

His plans are to attend Simpson College next year, major in accounting and play on the football team.

Instead, he played the role of operating a car while intoxicated and killed two young girls.

Clark’s morning was a normal one. His afternoon – anything but ordinary.

After being the one who “killed” the two girls, he was arrested and taken into custody. After that, he was transported to the Warren County Courthouse in Indianola where he was booked, had his fair trial, and sentenced to 50 years in prison.

Luckily, this was all fake, but the emotions shown from the student body and others impacted made it all seemed like it was happening for real.

And, sadly, it does happen for real. However, an event like this, can allow for prevention like this to happen.

“We want to make sure something like this never happens,” said Carlisle Principal Mike Anthony. “The timeliness of this event is huge with prom coming up this week.”

Every 15 Minutes is a year-round project, but the most impact is brought onto during the most important weeks of a school year – homecoming and prom.

Those two events are the prime events for high school students to go out and party. Whether alcohol is involved or not, students do stupid things. Those stupid things lead to bad results, and those bad results could change lives of those forever.

Seeing the stunned look on all faces from freshmen to seniors resounded all over the crowd as they stood behind the police tape. Tears were shed as some saw their best friends being put onto a body board, taken into ambulances and even one being put in handcuffs escorted by police into an official car.

The students, however, had no idea that the crash was going to be part of the day.

They thought there was going to be an assembly at the end of the day honoring all those students who were pulled out of classes representing the every 15 minutes a student dies in a car accident. Some took that concept seriously, too.

As a police officer walks into a classroom representing as the Grim Reaper, another Carlisle officer, or a chaplain within the department, announce a random name in the classroom representing he or she has passed.

For example, Turner Maryfield was one of the very last to be taken by the Grim Reaper. He was only 17, and as students heard his obituary, written by his parents prior to the afternoon, tears filled some faces as disbelief ran across the others, including Turner’s himself.

“I don’t know what to say,” he said as he walked away from his peers by the police. “I didn’t think I would get chosen.”

He wasn’t the only one who got selected. As each one of them were taken away from classes, shock hit their faces just as a car would collide with another in a crash.

Students stay at the school overnight as they are “dead” and cannot have contact with the outside world for 24 hours.

The event swept intense emotions among Wildcat students throughout the day.

Carlisle student Tyler Millard summed it up very well: “Because of this event, I will never drink or text while driving ever again. I won’t even think twice about it.”