O’s woes: Thunder stalls in 33-20 loss

By TOM ROBINSON

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton used line pressure to shut down the Mahoning Valley offense.

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — In a conventional football game, the Mahoning Valley Thunder’s ability to run the ball and convert short-yardage situations might have come in handy Friday night.

In the af2, it was irrelevant.

“Unfortunately, that’s not this game,” Thunder coach Mike Hold said after a 33-20 loss to the defending af2 American Conference champion Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers. “You’ve got to be able to throw the ball downfield.”

The Thunder had significant struggles in those areas.

Michaux Robinson intercepted two passes and broke up three others, but both Robinson and Hold put the reasons for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s success elsewhere.

“We knew they were going to be physical,” Hold said. “We felt we would be up to the challenge. We didn’t get to their passer and they got to our passer all night long.

“It was just an old-fashioned butt-whipping.”

Robinson, who grew up in Fostoria and intercepted 13 passes in his career at Otterbein College, also credited the pass rush.

“You could see our defensive line getting pressure,” Robinson said. “You definitely could see the lopsidedness on offense. We had better protection.”

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton had four sacks while Mahoning Valley did not have any.

The first half was clearly atypical of arena football.

In a league where 94 points are scored in an average game, the teams were scoreless for a span of more than 25 minutes before the Thunder closed within, 7-6, late in the half.

“The defense played well enough to win,” Hold said. “You’ve got to be able to score more than 20 points.”

John Tackmann, who made seven tackles from his linebacker position, took over as a running quarterback in short-yardage situations. He converted fourth-and-one situations three straight times in the first half before scoring the first Mahoning Valley touchdown on a 2-yard run.

Teams average just 23 yards rushing in the af2, but the Thunder was 13-for-60 in the first half and 16-for-73 in the game.

Josh Swogger threw third-quarter touchdown passes of 9 yards to Brian Majors and 7 yards to Henry Tolbert to give the Thunder a 20-14 lead going into the fourth quarter.

The Pioneers (2-1) dominated the fourth quarter with their defense, forcing two turnovers and allowing just one first down.

A fourth-down sack at the 1 by Isaac Hilton made the game-winning score an easy one for the offense.

Matt Schabert, who also threw for a pair of touchdown passes in the fourth, ran it in from a yard out for the lead with eight minutes left.

Robinson intercepted on the next play and the Thunder (1-2) did not cross midfield the rest of the game.

“We didn’t block,” Hold said. “When we did, we didn’t execute.

“It was a poor game offensively.”