Thunder look impressive with opening victory

By John Kovach

Mahoning Valley’s 59-33 win over Albany included a 36-0 run to finish the game.

YOUNGSTOWN — In the arenafootball2 league, where the field dimensions are small and the points scored by both teams usually are high, just to win a game is considered an achievement.

And when a team can rally from behind to win, especially by a big scoring margin, that kind of victory ranks in the impressive category.

But when a team can rally from 10 points down and then score 36 straight points while shutting out the opponent, that indeed is a rare and special feat that indicates an effective combination of offense, blocking and defense that bodes well for the future games.

Such is the case with the Mahoning Valley Thunder, which opened its second season in the af2 Saturday night against the Albany Conquest on Cortland Banks Field in the Chevrolet Centre.

Trailing 33-23 early in the third quarter, the Thunder, spearheaded by quarterback Josh Swogger’s passing attack behind solid protection and a stingy defense, overwhelmed the Conquest en route to a 59-33 win.

The 3,735 fans on hand thus witnessed one of the biggest comebacks and stretches of shutout football in the history of the af2, now in its ninth season.

And that special triumph, which increased the Thunder’s home winning streak to four games extending back to last year, provides optimism entering the second game of the season Saturday, at home against the Manchester Wolves at 7:05 p.m.

It also gives coach Michael Hold’s revamped team hope for a better season than last year (7-9 and no playoff spot), after the Thunder had won their first three games before slipping into a slump of five straight defeats.

Swogger (Ursuline High, Washington State and Montana), who was named the MVP/Schutt Offensive Player of the Game, fired four TD passes, including three in the second half, two of them to second-year wide receiver DeMarcus Mathes (Missouri Southern State). Swogger finished with 157 yards in the air on 10-for-24 and no interceptions.

Mathes, who was recognized for making the Cutters Catch of the Game, wound up as the team’s leading receiver with five catches for 109 yards.

Swogger’s other TD strikes were to Henry Tolbert (Grambling State) for 30 yards and Marlon White (Vanderbilt) for 7 yards.

Meanwhile, John Tackmann (Winona State) emerged as a two-way standout for the Thunder, as he rushed for three TDs of 9, 5 and 2 yards and a team-best 25 yards in five runs; and led the defense with six solo tackles and one assist for 6.5 tackles.

Tackmann, who won the U.S. Army Ironman award of the game, was reinforced by Kellen Driscoll (St. Ambrose) with four tackles and three assists for 5.5 total tackles, and Brian Major (Southern Utah) with three and four for 5.0.

Anthony Jackson (Texas A M-Kingsville) won the game’s ADT Defensive Player of the game primarily for his 7-yard interception return to the Albany 23 at 5:22 of the third quarter that set up Swogger’s 18-yard TD pass to Mathes to put the Thunder ahead to stay at 36-33.

The Thunder was able to run away from Albany even though the Conquest quarterback, Dan Cole, demonstrated he could pass with the best of them — but only for about half the game.

Cole completed 22 of 27 passes for 276 yards and four TD passes, two to Jared Jones covering 30 and 24 yards, but was shut down by the Thunder defense for the final 27:29 of the game after Jones got the Conquest’s final TD on a 4-yard run with a fumble.

Tolbert was another overall bright spot for the Thunder. Besides catching a TD pass, Tolbert also returned the opening kickoff 53 yards for a TD untouched through a huge gap on the left-center side of the field, without a Conquest defender even getting near him.

Tolbert finished with two catches for 24 yards and also returned four kickoffs for 109 yards, while White had three receptions for 24 yards and one tally.

Also impressive was the Thunder’s kicking game from Rick Ziska (Lafayette), who was 6-for-7 in extra-point kicks and 1-for-2 in field-goal attempts, connecting on a 32-yard try. He also averaged 46 yards on 10 kickoffs.

kovach@vindy.com