Thunder meets division leader

By Greg Gulas

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton has beaten the Thunder twice already this season.

YOUNGSTOWN — The Mahoning Valley Thunder are hoping that the third time will be the charm as they travel to Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Saturday for another af2 game with East Conference-leading Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Earlier this season, the Thunder lost twice to the Pioneers.

Coming off a 53-27 loss to Manchester Saturday night, a game in which the Wolves scored the first 26 points and never looked back, the Thunder (3-11) must now focus their thoughts on the Pioneers; the league’s second best unit (record-wise) at 12-2 overall and 6-1 against division rivals.

The Thunder’s goal remains to win the final two games of the season; a not-so-impossible task when talking to Coach Mike Hold.

“Winning our final two games of the year would be a nice springboard to next season, but I am more interested in finishing strong this season as opposed to already looking toward next year,” Hold said.

Having split its last two outings, Mahoning Valley failed for just the fifth time this season to score 30 or more points in a game. All games resulted in losses for the Thunder in the high-scoring league.

Scoring each time they are in control of the football and then stopping the Pioneers defensively Saturday might prove a real challenge for Mahoning Valley.

“Wilkes-Barre/Scranton has pretty much the same core of players as when they started the season,” Hold said. “They’ve been pretty lucky injury-wise while we have gone through our share of quarterbacks and other position players due to a variety of injuries.

“It’s not an impossible feat, but in order to beat them we have to play the perfect game and then take advantage of their mistakes,” Hold said. “Limiting our miscues will keep us in the game.”

Against the Wolves, Mahoning Valley and Manchester each lost a fumble and suffered an interception.

The key stat of the game, however, was the Wolves’ ability to score once inside the red zone where they penetrated the Thunder goal line with all four of their opportunities.

Mahoning Valley, on the other hand, could put points on the board just twice when inside the zone, finding a 33-14 halftime deficit too much to overcome.

On April 11, the Thunder fell to the Pioneers on the road, 33-20, then absorbed a 77-47 drubbing at the Chevrolet Centre on May 5.

In those contests, Mahoning Valley has pretty much controlled the clock (66:27 to 53:29) but three turnovers by the Thunder to none by the Pioneers at the Chevrolet Center proved to be Mahoning Valley’s undoing.

Saturday, Thunder quarterback Shane Adler was 14-for-38 for 170 yards and three touchdowns against the Wolves, but he’ll have to kick his game up a notch if Mahoning Valley expects to play the role of the spoiler.

“Shane has the ability but in his defense, our pass protection wasn’t the very best this past weekend,” Hold said.

“While Shane did not play one of his better games, give Manchester credit because they kept the pressure on him all night.

”Our Achilles heel all season long has been turnovers so winning the turnover margin will be key if we expect to win Saturday night,” he added.

“We need all three phases of our game to be in sync and playing at a high level this weekend,” said Hold. “This league has come a long way in nine short years so you need to bring your A game each and every time out.”