Indoor Football excitement

BLOOMINGTON - One of the most exciting sports finishes I have ever witnessed occurred last Friday, May 14, at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum in Bloomington. The Indoor Football League (IFL) conference game between the visiting Chicago Slaughter and the host Bloomington Extreme went back and forth much of the way, with no team taking an advantage of more than nine points. 

The exciting finish was shaping up with less than two minutes remaining and Chicago trailing by six, 30-24, with the ball. They drove down the Extreme' one-yard line with less than a minute to go. Despite many fans urging the Extreme to let Chicago score, they stood tough on defense, forced a fumble, and returned it to midfield. 

With 50 seconds to go and up by six, all Bloomington had to do was take two knees and victory would be theirs. But on the ensuing handoff, the quarterback fumbled and Chicago recovered. The Slaughter then drove down the field in three plays and scored a touchdown to tie the game. The extra point to win? Missed. 

Still with 10 seconds to go and a short field, the Extreme set up the game-winning field goal with six seconds left. Peter Christifilakos was perfect on the attempt, but two seconds remained. 

The Slaughter returned the following kick and attempted too many laterals to count. Flags were all over the field because most of them were forward passes. The game was finally over and Bloomington had prevailed 33-30. 

If there were an NFL finish like that, it would have had to be the game of the year. 

What hurt the Slaughter most was the penalties, but that seems to be their approach. The team completely fits the personality of their head coach, Steve "Mongo" McMichael. Winning almost comes second t o them. First off, they need to make their statement and if a few players on the opposing team get injured in the process, so be it. 

It costs $15 to get a good seat to the Extreme game and I would say, because of the exciting finish, it was worth it. But I would not want to pay that much for a blowout game in the IFL. Not a bad decision to check it out though. For football fans like myself, you need to watch something in the long NFL off-season. 

Photo: A Bloomington Extreme receiver dives for the ball during the team's 33-30 win over the Chicago Slaughter Friday, May 14.