Thunder hoping to ride defense

By John Kovach

After the Thunder defense delivered a win, the team is hungry for more of the same.

YOUNGSTOWN — After much talk about needing a stronger offense to win, it turned out to be the defense that enabled the struggling Mahoning Valley Thunder to snap a three-game losing streak Saturday at home against the Louisville Fire in an af2 game.

Defensive end Mike Lane emerged as the hero for Mahoning Valley when he blocked an extra point kick attempt by Danny Knight with 8.6 seconds left to preserve a 42-41 victory.

The Thunder’s margin of victory was provided by placekicker Derek Schorejs’ extra-point kick following John Tackmann’s 1-yard TD run on a rollout with 2:11 remaining for a 42-35 lead.

Now Mahoning Valley (3-10), which heads into its second bye week, has to hope that continued strong defensive play can help the team win its last three games and salvage what has been a lackluster season.

Following this week off, the Thunder will hit the road for two games at the Manchester Wolves July 12 and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers July 19, both games at 7:30 p.m.

Then the Thunder will finish the season at home July 26 against the Green Bay Blizzard at 7:05 p.m.

Coach Mike Hold said his team was determined to win over the Fire, and used defense to do it.

“The defense stepped it up in the second half and made some key stops,” said Hold. “We put a lot of [defensive] pressure on them in the second half.”

Tackmann’s observance and alertness in the game also enabled him to get an “assist” on Lane’s game-saving block. Lane said Tackmann tipped him off about the opening in the Fire defensive line.

“All game there was a hole. Tackmann told me they were washing the tackles toward the center. That opened the [defensive] end to have an inside move,” explained Lane (6-foot-5, 255 pounds), who played for Tiffin University.

After Lane’s block, the Thunder recovered an onside kick at the Fire 14 with 5.3 seconds left, and ran out the clock for the win.

Lane wasn’t the only Thunder defensive standout. In fact, Royce Morgan set two team defensive records.

Morgan turned in 31‚Ñ2 sacks in the game that gave him 12 for the season to break Anton Ceaser’s record of 11 set last year.

Morgan was a big reason that the Thunder were able to control the line of scrimmage.

“Morgan almost single handedly controlled the line of scrimmage,” said Thunder media relations coordinator Anthony Farris. “When he wasn’t drawing offensive holding calls, Morgan was camping out in the Fire backfield.”

Morgan leads the team in sacks with 111‚Ñ2 for 65 yards followed by Kellen Driscoll with 8 for 42 yards.

Driscoll leads in tackles for losses with 121‚Ñ2 for 50 yards followed by Morgan with 11 for 57 yards.

Melvin Matlock leads the team in tackles with 571‚Ñ2 on 51 solos and 13 assists, followed by Tackmann with 55 (40 and 30), Driscoll 401‚Ñ2 (23 and 35), Ray Williams 36 (33 and 6), Tez Morris 341‚Ñ2 (32 and 5). Montae Bailey 31 (26 and 10) and Morgan 241‚Ñ2 (18 and 13).

Tackmann (6-2, 220), who played for Winona State, also tied the Thunder record for rushing touchdowns in one season against the Fire, when he scored two times from 1-yard out to give him 14 for the year to tie Tim Murphy’s output in 2007.

The Thunder also got solid offensive performances from quarterback Shane Adler and wide receiver Quorey Payne.

Adler completed 11 of 23 passes for 170 yards and two touchdowns with two interceptions, and also ran for a 1-yard TD that tied the score at 28 after Schorejs’ placement.

Payne, making his debut at wide receiver, caught six passes for 120 yards, including a 35-yard TD toss from Adler that lifted the Thunder ahead 35-28 after Schorejs connected again.

Schorejs wound up 6-for-6 for the night.

kovach@vindy.com