Thunder’s gap against Pioneers slowly falling
thunder ryan greiser (12) blocks ball carrier wilkes barre pioneer (25) larry kendrick during the 2nd quarter at covelli center, saturday june 27, 2009 Lisa-Ann Ishihara
YOUNGSTOWN — The numbers are coming down.
Those numbers are points given up by Mahoning Valley Thunder’s defense against the American Conference-leading Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers.
Mahoning Valley (1-12) allowed 80 points in its first loss to Wilkes-Barre, followed by 73 the second time around this season.
The Thunder kept Wilkes-Barre to 62 points in its third meeting with the Pioneers on Saturday, a 62-47 defeat.
The defensive front of Michael Alston, Larry Harrison and Frashon McGee put decent pressure on Wilkes-Barre quarterback Ryan Vena.
Alston had a sack for 6-yard loss and 1.5 tackles-for-loss of 7 yards.
“We got some good pressure, but he [Vena] was making some good plays,” the defensive end said. “We gave it our best and left it all down on the field.
“It was a tough game, but much better than the last one [when Mahoning Valley had only 37 points on May 8].
“The offense did its job by putting up points and giving us an opportunity,” Alston said. “The defense has to watch film, correct mistakes and get better so we can get a victory.”
Defensive back Patrick Wells played in only his third af2 game for the Thunder, but had a team-best seven tackles, all solos, and two pass-break-ups.
“It’s a different game than outdoors, so you just have to get a feel for it.”
Wells said that covering Scranton receivers J.J. Outlaw, Rich Musinski and Irving Campbell is a handful.
“They’ve played together for a while and they’re disciplined. They know where to throw the ball and they know where to run, so we just have to be more together and understand the game more. That’s all it comes down to.”
Wells had some good hits on the Pioneers, including a jarring tackle of Campbell after Mahoning Valley pulled within 49-41.
When the Thunder was within 42-34, Wells got a piece of the ball after Larry Kendrick seemingly caught it. However, it was not ruled a fumble.
Jermaine Moye managed a good downfield tackle while on the Thunder’s kickoff team midway through the third quarter and later the receiver threw a block that knocked a Pioneers’ helmet off. The block immediately followed C.J. Brewer’s over-the-middle catch and TD covering 33 yards that pulled Mahoning Valley within 56-47 with 3:47 left.
Jack linebacker Taz Wallace tackled FB Kirby Griffin for a 2-yard loss in the second quarter and Wallace caught Kendrick on a kickoff return at Wilkes-Barre’s 9 before halftime.
While Mahoning Valley had two Brad Roach passes picked off, the Pioneers had zero turnovers.
“It comes down to the turnover battle,” Roach said. “If we’re going to win, I’ve got to stop making mistakes.”
Roach felt confident running the Thunder offense against a Wilkes-Barre defense that was holding opponents to 248.8 yards per game.
“I felt like every time the offense got out there, we had a chance to move the ball and we did.”
Mahoning Valley gained 309 yards in Saturday’s loss.
Roach was somewhat pleased.
“We played good, but we can play a lot better if we just cut down on mistakes,” Roach said. “We’ll get it together.”
bassetti@vindy.com
THUNDER NOTEBOOK From the Covelli Centre
Anthem: Watching Saturday’s Thunder game from above at the Covelli Centre was Jennie Salerno of Boardman, who was enjoying her second af2 home game this season. Salerno also was on hand to listen to her granddaughter, 8-year-old Chloe Noel Housteau, sing the national anthem. “She’s very gifted,” Salerno said of Chloe’s vocal talent. Chloe is a student at Holy Family Parochial School in Poland. She is also the daughter of Mahoning Valley Thunder photographer Gary Housteau.
Af2 idle: All but eight af2 teams will be idle for the upcoming holiday weekend. The July 4th weekend is usually an open week for the league’s teams, including the Thunder, which has not played on the weekend any of its three seasons. Friday’s games will be Quad Cities at Peoria and Oklahoma at Rio Grande Valley, while Saturday’s two games will be Amarillo at Bossier and Spokane at Iowa.
SEE ALSO: Thunder limits turnovers to keep pace with Pioneers.