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."
No comments:
Post a Comment