Sunday, October 01, 2006
EFL Post Game Press Coverage October 1st
Semipro football
October 1, 2006
COLCHESTER -- Brad Ruderman fired off three touchdown passes to Matt Bombardier as the Ice Storm advanced to the Empire Football League's Northern Division championship next weekend at Waterville, N.Y., with a 33-13 victory Saturday night.
Ruderman also found Troy
Kellen Nolan hit Brian Talley in the second quarter and to make it 7-7, but the Ruderman-Bombardier show gave the Ice Storm a 21-7 halftime lead.
Nolan hit Heath Geiser from 50-yards but the Ice Storm defense shut down the City Stars the rest of the game.
October 01, 2006
COLCHESTER, Vt. — The Brad Ruderman to Matt Bombardier connection was too much for the Lake City Stars to handle as they bowed out of the Empire Football League playoffs with a 34-14 loss to the Vermont Ice Storm on Saturday.
The loss also ends a 10-year era for head coach Ed McCallister, who will call Saturday's game his final on the sidelines for the Lake City Stars.
"It has been 10 years for me, personally," McCallister said. "And it is something I have been thinking about for awhile now. I think it is time for a change for this team. There is definitely potential there and a lot of talent, but they need to make more of a commitment, and hopefully they will for their next coach."
Bombardier hauled in three touchdown passes from Ruderman on the night. The Stars had been concerned with the athletic ability of both Austin Partain and Troy
Kellen Nolan tied the score at seven when he connected with James Blocker for a 15-yard touchdown.
The Ice Storm, however, scored two consecutive touchdowns — both Bombardier from Ruderman — to take a 21-7 lead.
"We got beat by the better team," McCallister said. "We had some opportunities, but we made too many mistakes to stop ourselves. Hopefully if the team gets this far next season they can make better decisions and be more dedicated when it comes to practice."
"It's frustrating to end not only your year, but for some of us our career, with a loss, but that is the way the playoffs go — you lose and you go home.
"And the door has officially closed on the 2006 season."
Scoring summary
For Immediate Release:
By virtue of the Tri State Bulldogs 14-6 victory tonight, over the
for the Empire Football League's Southern Division championship on October
7th at Bleecker Stadium.
The Southern Division winner will travel to the site of the Northern
Division winner on October 14th for the EFL's 37th Championship.
The Northern division championship will pit the Vermont Ice Storm and the
Watertown Red & Black in
Tri-State comes in off a playoff victory over
and Bulldogs have split their season series with the Mallers winning here,
17-13 on July 29th and the Bulldogs pulling out the last second victory at
home 10-7, on September 9th.
A Metro Maller victory in the divisional championship game would be one
for the record book as it would mark the first time since the teams
inception in 1969 that the team would play in three league championship
games in a row. The Mallers were defeated in the EFL Championship Game by
the Glens Falls Greenjackets in 2004 before coming back with an undefeated
EFL Season in 2005 which ended with
Bulldogs in the title game.
and 12-2 overall and is ranked #8 in the East Region by the Minor League
Football News and #7 in the Northeast by National Football Events Board. On
the national level, the team ranks #25 by MLFN and #24 by NFEB, the Total
Top 25 places the Mallers at #20 Nationally.
Kickoff for the game will be 7:30pm. Tickets will be available at the
gate beginning at 6:30pm.
