This article originally appeared in the May 3, 2010 edition of the Daily-Freeman Journal

Rage Subsides: Turnover-prone Rampage fall in tight franchise opener

WC's new football team coughs up ball 6 times in loss to Nebraska Wildcats

By Troy Banning, DFJ Sports Editor

 

WEBSTER CITY - It doesn't matter if it's pee-wees, preps or pros turnovers will slam the door on a team's head every single time.

Teams can overcome a turnover or two and maybe - just maybe if they're lucky - even three miscues won't be the difference between a win and a loss.

But six turnovers? Nope, they're not overcoming that. The Midwest Rampage, Webster City's newest minor league football team, did plenty of things well in its franchise-opener against the Nebraska Wildcats in front of more than 400 fans Saturday afternoon at Stampede Stadium. But the elephant in the room was the dreaded turnover, as the Rampage coughed the ball up six times and had a pair of punts partially blocked in a 22-15 loss.

The Wildcats scored 16 points off the turnovers and special teams gaffs, and then hung on in the waning moments to win the season opener for both teams.

"You can't win and do that," Rampage head coach Chris Hansen said of the turnovers. "Everybody wants to look at stats to see what wins football games, but I've always been big on turnovers.

"You always know that your biggest improvement comes from week one to week two, but the hard part is you have to play week one. So we all have avenues that we can improve on."

Rampage quarterback Clint Howard completed 15-of-36 passes for 226 yards and a pair of touchdowns, but the first-year player was also picked off three times.

Howard hooked up with fellow rookie and former Webster City prep player Kevin Kannuan on both scores. Kannuan caught a short pass near the sideline and then danced his way through defenders on his way to a 27-yard touchdown with 1:04 left in the first half. It was the culmination of a 93-yard drive that put the Rampage up 7-6.

But the Wildcats quickly moved down the field and got field goal kicker Chuck Tack in position to boot a 35 yarder at the buzzer to given them a 9-7 halftime lead. Tack was 3-for-4 in the game his other makes came from 43 and 27 yards in the first half.

"They had a field goal kicker and they won the battle of field position," Rampage middle linebacker John Elkin, who had 11 tackles, said. "But we'll rebound from this because we got a lot of the first-game jitters out of the way."

The Wildcats celebrated in the end zone twice in the third quarter on runs of 19 and 6 yards by Shonn Wells to push their lead to 22-7.

But the Rampage jumped right back into contention with 10:26 left when a wide-open Kannuan reeled in a pass from Howard over the middle and went 70 yards untouched to the house. A two-point conversion pass from Howard to Dan Schaa trimmed the deficit to seven.

Kannuan caught four balls for 101 yards to lead the receiving corp. Nate Treibel had two catches for 75 yards, including a 60 yarder from reserve QB Tyler Mosbach on the final play of the game. Mosbach threw up a desperation heave that was batted into the air twice before Treibel hauled it in. He streaked down the sideline, but was caught at the Wildcats' 24-yard line by free safety Aries Henderson as the final horn sounded.

Jake Thoma led the Rampage running game with 65 yards on 16 carries. But the Wildcats front seven limited the Rampage to just 73 total ground yards.

Jared Bell led the defense with 12 tackles.