By Cassie Kickert
Heading into a potentially colossal battle between two
former National Champions, the St. Paul Pioneers were nonetheless confident they
could topple the visiting Des Moines Blaze on Saturday at Sea Foam Stadium in
St. Paul.
Turns out, they would came up an inch short.

And, for the second time in this young season, the Pioneers
started off a bit lackluster – letting an opponent take a first half lead. St.
Paul actually scored first, on a safety, when linebacker Bill Quistorff tackled
the Blaze ball carrier in the end zone following excellent coverage by the
Pioneers kickoff team.
Des Moines would storm right back, however, when the
Pioneers fumbled shortly after receiving the free kick. On a 4th and
15 deep in Pioneers territory, the Blaze opted against the field goal try and
instead lined up to go for it. Blaze quarterback DeMareo Darrah tossed a touchdown
on the play to wideout Randy Blackford – one of three Blackford scores on the day.

Des Moines scored again before the first quarter ended when
Blackford caught his second touchdown of the day, taking this one 22 yards. Then, shortly before the two minute warning, the Blaze would
score again after a short Pioneers punt. With the Pioneers defense on its
heels, the halftime score was 20-9, Blaze.
In the second half, the Pioneers seemed to regain some of
their swagger. Starting with a couple of Spriggs passes – first to Cleveland
McCoy, then to Woods – the Pioneers offense started clicking. Spriggs got in on
the action too, running the ball to the Blaze 28 yard line. But two incomplete
passes followed, stalling the Pioneers momentum and giving the ball back to the
Blaze.
Blackford scored yet again for the Blaze, going 43 yards,
his longest reception of the day.
Then, with their backs literally to the wall, the Pioneers
defense decided that enough was enough.
With the Blaze threatening to score again at the Pioneers
13-yard line, defensive tackle Jeff McGaster chased Darrah down and jarred the
ball loose. Linebacker John Robinson scooped it up and ran 80 yards for a
touchdown – his second TD in the first two games.
The Pioneers defense wasn’t done. On the next series, defensive
back Terry Jones stepped in front of a Darrah pass and, a few plays later,
Pioneers running back Brian Holmes punched it in from the 1-yard line. The
Pioneers two-point conversion try failed, making the score 27-22 Blaze.
Suddenly, there was hope.
Still, the skilled and experienced Blaze offense, which gave
the Pioneers fits all day, was not ready to fold. They drove the ball deep
again into Pioneers territory, setting up the possibility of another score. But
a Blaze pass into the end zone was snared by Jones. He took a knee, giving the ball
to the Pioneers at the 20 yard line with the two-minute warning and two
timeouts.
Then, after a penalty pushed the Pioneers back to their own
10-yard line, the offense started running its two-minute drill. On third down,
Spriggs hit receiver Sean Lewis with a 36-yard pass to near midfield.
When asked what made the last two drives different, Spriggs
said he believes the team does better under pressure. He also said the offense
needs to stop putting pressure on themselves at the beginning of the game and
just play football. He added that the offense needs to help the defense more as
well.
“We [have] to do more at the beginning of the game so we can
keep our defense fresh by making plays and first downs. We need to stop putting
pressure on ourselves in the beginning of the game and just play football.
That’s what we did at the end of the game—just play football [and] it showed.”

Eight yards stood between the Pioneers and victory. Three
incomplete passes set up the dramatic fourth down play. Spriggs rolled to his
right and appeared oh-so-close to scoring. But the officials ruled he was
shoved out of bounds an inch shy of the front corner of the end zone with 3
seconds left on the clock.
Des Moines took a knee to end the game.
When asked about the Pioneers unfamiliar defensive struggles
so far this season, Jones – a veteran of several seasons from Concordia
University-St. Paul, said the team still is working to get nearly 20 new
players acquainted with the Pioneers’ system.
He said in order to beat the Force this coming Saturday, ”we
have to play defense, stay sound [and] get back to our roots.”
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