Non-League Games Week 3 (May 5, 2012)

St. Paul Pioneers 46 1-0 0-0 NEFL
Minnesota Sting 0 1-1 0-0 MPFL

Fox Valley Force 23 1-0 0-0 NEFL
Southern Lakes Blue Devils 0 0-1 0-0 NEFL

Kimberly Storm 27 1-0 0-0 NEFL
Upper Peninsula Arctic Blast 0 0-1 0-0 NLFL

Eau Claire Crush 13 2-0 0-0 NEFL
River City Rough Riders 6 1-1 0-0 NEFL

Kimberly Storm (0-0 Overall, 0-0 Northern Elite Football)
at
Upper Peninsula Arctic Blast (0-0 Overall, 0-0 Northern Lights Football)

May 5, 2012 – Norway High School (Norway, Mich.) – 5:00p.m. Kickoff
Non-League Game

LAST MEETING: The Storm completed a 2010 season sweep of the Arctic Blast 17-0 on 7/17/10.

ALL-TIME SERIES HISTORY: Storm lead 2-1 (League Play only)
7/17/10 – Storm 17, Arctic Blast 0 (NEFL)
6/26/10 – Storm 17, Arctic Blast 13 (NEFL)
6/20/09 – Arctic Blast 26, Storm 24 (NEFL)

KIMBERLY STORM: 6-25 Overall All-Time, 4-20 NEFL All-Time, 2-5 Non-League All-Time
Last Game: Won 21-20 vs Central Wisconsin Spartans (0-0 0-0 NEFL) on 7/16/11 (NEFL)
Next Game: Green Bay Gladiators (0-0 0-0 NEFL) on 5/12/12 (4:00p.m.)

UPPER PENINSULA ARCTIC BLAST: 49-48 Overall All-Time, 4-0 NLFL All-Time, 6-4 Non-League
Last Game: Won 54-6 vs Green Bay BlackJacks (0-0 0-0 NLFL) on 7/16/11 (NLFL)
Next Game: Green Bay BlackJacks (0-0 0-0 NLFL) on 5/19/12 (4:00p.m.)

NEFL Coaches’ Poll Ranks: N/A
NEFL Power Rankings: Storm 10 (2012 High: 10, Low: 10), Arctic Blast N/A

# # #

KIMBERLY STORM – This is the first game of the season for the Kimberly Storm. The Storm, in their fifth season in existence and fourth season in the NEFL, play their home games at Papermaker Stadium at Kimberly (Wis.) High School. Kimberly finished last season with a record of 2-7 overall and 2-6 in league play. The Storm are coached again this year by Dave Adamovich, who took over last season. Adamovich is two wins behind Chad Ashman (2009-2010) in all-time victories as head coach of the Kimberly Storm.

The Storm enter 2012 as one of three league teams that finished 2011 with a victory (the St. Paul Pioneers (0-0 0-0 NEFL) and Lake Superior Rage (0-0 0-0 NEFL) are the others). Kimberly has never advanced to the postseason. The Storm are the only team in the NEFL to have never played in another league (they spent 2008 as an independent). From 2008 until 2009, the team was named the Northeastern Wisconsin Storm (or ‘NEW Storm’ for short). They changed their name prior to the 2010 season to reflect their home city and venue, one of the few all-turf high school fields in Wisconsin.

UPPER PENINSULA ARCTIC BLAST – This is the first game of the season for the Upper Peninsula Arctic Blast. The Arctic Blast are the only former member of the NEFL to still be playing football. They finished their run in the NEFL with a 4-21 league record over three seasons (2008-2010), including a playoff appearance in 2008. The Arctic Blast won the NLFL last season with a perfect 4-0 record in league play, their first-ever league championship. Prior to the NEFL, the Arctic Blast played in the defunct Great Plains Football League.

The Arctic Blast play in the NLFL, a five-team league that will expand to at least six teams in 2013. The teams are based in northeastern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Fox Valley Force (0-0 Overall, 0-0 Northern Elite Football)
at
Southern Lakes Blue Devils (0-0 Overall, 0-0 Ironman Football)

May 5, 2012 – Wilmot High School (Wilmot, Wis.) – 5:00p.m. Kickoff
Non-League Game

LAST MEETING: The Blue Devils upended the Force 43-40 in a non-league game last year.

ALL-TIME SERIES HISTORY: Blue Devils lead 1-0
5/7/11 – Blue Devils 43, Force 40 (non-league)

FOX VALLEY FORCE: 56-12 Overall All-Time, 22-7 NEFL All-Time, 3-1 Non-League All-Time
Last Game: Lost 13-7 vs Chippewa Valley Predators (1-1 0-0 MPFL) on 7/30/11 (NEFL Semifinals)
Next Game: Minnesota Dragons (1-0 0-0 NEFL) on 5/12/12 (4:00p.m.)

SOUTHERN LAKES BLUE DEVILS: 47-35 Overall All-Time, 40-25 IFL All-Time, 7-10 Non-League
Last Game: Lost 20-10 vs Waukesha Co. Junkyard Dogs (0-0 0-0 IFL) on 8/20/11 (IFL Quarterfinals)
Next Game: Lincoln Way Patriots (0-0 0-0 MSFL) on 6/2/12 (5:00p.m.)

NEFL Coaches’ Poll Ranks: N/A
NEFL Power Rankings: Force 4 (2012 High: 4, Low: 4), Blue Devils N/A

# # #

FOX VALLEY FORCE – This is the first game of the season for Fox Valley Force. The Force, in their seventh season in existence and fourth season in the NEFL, play their home games at the Banta Bowl at Lawrence University (Appleton, Wis.). Fox Valley finished last season with a record of 7-3 overall and 7-2 in league play, ending the season in the NEFL semifinals at home with a loss to the Chippewa Valley Predators (1-1 0-0 NEFL) 13-7. The Force are coached by Chris Knapp, who took over the same season that the team joined the NEFL after a successful run in the WSFL (31-4 in that league along with league championships in 2007 and 2008). Knapp has the third-most NEFL coaching victories of all time (22), and is tied for sixth in all-time victories amongst coaches who have been the head coach of an NEFL team all-time in semi-professional football (23).

The Force have the highest all-time winning percentage of any team currently in the NEFL (82.4%). They also rank fourth in all-time victories (56) and tied for third in all-time NEFL victories (22; tied with the Eau Claire Crush (1-0 0-0 NEFL)) despite being one of the league’s younger organizations.

SOUTHERN LAKES BLUE DEVILS – This is the first game of the season for the Southern Lakes Blue Devils. The Blue Devils, in their seventh season of existence, all of them as a member of the Ironman Football League, play their regular season home games at Paddock Lake High School in Salem, Wis. Southern Lakes finished last season with a record of 7-6 overall and 5-5 in league play, ending their season in the IFL quarterfinals with a 20-10 loss to the Waukesha County Junkyard Dogs (0-0 0-0 IFL). The Blue Devils defeated the Fox Valley Force last year, 43-40, in non-league play.

The Blue Devils were known as the Burlington Blue Devils through 2010, changing their name and home venue prior to last season. Southern Lakes has made it to the playoffs five straight years, including a championship game loss to the Madison Mustangs in 2010. Last season marked the worst league record for the team since 2007, when they also went 5-5 in the IFL.

My hope is that I've already cleared that up with those two teams and again, the ONLY reason I said anything at all was so that other teams that may've heard the same thing that you did, didn't start to wonder about their own games with our team. We are full steam ahead! No apology necessary, just wanted to do some damage control. I know how much work goes into planning home games so I just didn't want any other teams to worry. As is usually the case, there were some missing pieces to the overall puzzle and I hope we've cleared that up.

Thanks again!

Thanks for the update--for what it's worth, I didn't find out until the middle of the night last night, and that was the reason given to me. I know at least two teams had contacted me right away wondering about future games, so I directed them to your team website since, obviously, all I knew at the time was that at some point Tuesday the game had been called off.

On a side note, if it's been out there for weeks that it wasn't going to happen, it's only mildly frustrating to me since I spent time looking at the histories and game records. I didn't even find out about the game until I saw a random post on Facebook, and it was never added to any schedule as far as I could tell (except for the Terror's).

I'll personally apologize for being in the dark about this, but as you can see, even though I do my best to try and promote the league, I'm still working on the communication level between me and some of the teams. Good luck this season from some random football fan in Eau Claire, and have fun in your new league this season!

Just want to state for the record, before teams in our own league panic because they think we don't have a roster; have already gotten phone calls, emails, etc about that. This game was scheduled months ago. Rochester was told about 3 weeks ago, that their field wasn' t going to be ready. Our two clubs were working at the same time, trying to find alternate fields at both locations. Our field wasn't avialable. Told our guys early last week no game so some made other plans before the regular season kicks off. Found out in the middle of last week, that Rochester had just found out that they could have their field and could we still make the trip. We showed up at Eau Claire with a light roster due to some of our guys still at college, work obligations, etc. and subsequently had three go out due to injury! We all know how that ended. Couldn't risk that again with the regular season one week away. So... yes, game was cancelled because of a light roster, but it's a direct result of not have a field to play on until about a week ago. Again, you never see posts from anyone affliate with the Terror and there is a reason why, but just wanted to state for the record that it's not because we just don't have a team.

Thank you for your time. Good luck to all your teams in this league; very talented teams.

Disregard the Giants/Terror notes -- the game has been cancelled (Terror couldn't find enough players for the trip).

And I'm not bitter about spending a half hour working on the game notes for it, even though I guess it's been known since Tuesday.


***EDIT***

See the post above--it's been off longer than Tuesday. Which is awesome since, again, I spent a half-hour researching both teams and another half-hour writing up the game notes.

River City Rough Riders (1-0 Overall, 0-0 Northern Elite Football)
at
Eau Claire Crush (1-0 Overall, 0-0 Northern Elite Football)

May 5, 2012 – Carson Park (Eau Claire, Wis.) – 6:00p.m. Kickoff
Non-League Game

LAST MEETING: The Rough Riders beat the Crush 7-6 in non-league play last year.

ALL-TIME SERIES HISTORY: Rough Riders lead 1-0
5/7/11 – Rough Riders 7, Crush 6 (non-league)

RIVER CITY ROUGH RIDERS: 37-56 Overall All-Time, 1-6 NEFL All-Time, 8-7 Non-League All-Time
Last Game: Won 22-12 vs Twin Cities Titans (0-1 0-0 MPFL) on 4/28/12 (Non-League)
Next Game: Lake Superior Rage (0-0 0-0 NEFL) on 5/12/12 (7:00p.m.)

EAU CLAIRE CRUSH: 37-18 Overall All-Time, 22-14 NEFL All-Time, 8-2 Non-League All-Time
Last Game: Won 54-0 vs Lakes Area Terror (0-1 0-0 MPFL) on 4/21/12 (Non-League)
Next Game: Menomonie Thunderhawks (1-0 0-0 NEFL) on 5/11/12 (7:00p.m.) \

NEFL Coaches’ Poll Ranks: N/A
NEFL Power Rankings: Crush 6 (2012 High: 6, Low: 6), Rough Riders 12 (High: 12, Low: 12)

# # #

RIVER CITY ROUGH RIDERS – This is the second game of the season for the River City Rough Riders, who won their season opener 22-12 over the Twin Cities Titans (0-1 0-0 MPFL) on April 28. The Rough Riders, in their tenth season in existence and second season in the NEFL, play their home games at Veterans Memorial Field at UW-La Crosse. River City finished last season with a record of 3-6 overall and 1-6 in league play. The Rough Riders have a new coach this season, Dan Bridges, who is also the team manager. Bridges is the interim coach and is one of six head coaching changes in the NEFL this offseason. Bridges earned his first career win as head coach last week.

EAU CLAIRE CRUSH – This is the second game of the season for the Eau Claire Crush, who won their season opener 54-0 over the Lakes Area Terror (0-1 0-0 MPFL) on April 21. The Crush, in their sixth season of existence and fifth as an original member of the NEFL, play their home games at Carson Park in Eau Claire, Wis. Eau Claire finished last season with a record of 5-6 overall and 4-5 in league play, ending their season in the NEFL quarterfinals with a 28-12 loss to the Chippewa Valley Predators. The Crush retain Fred Hoversholm as head coach this season, who moved into third place all-time in Crush history with the win over the Terror two weeks ago (six wins). With a victory Saturday, Hoversholm will tie Todd Trapp for second place (seven wins). Hoversholm is 17-20 all-time as a head coach in semi-professional football, including his time as coach of the Thunderhawks.

# # #

The winner of this game will earn their 38th victory as an organization and 9th all-time non-league win as well…the teams play just one common opponent this year (Lake Superior 0-0 0-0 NEFL)…this is the second trip to Carson Park in 2012 for the Rough Riders, as they scrimmaged the Chippewa Valley Predators on 4/14…both teams have one non-league game remaining. The Rough Riders play the Dubuque Bruisers (0-0 0-0 GMFL) on 5/19, while the Eau Claire Crush will play the Racine Threat (0-0 0-0 MSFL) on 6/30…this game will not count in the NEFL standings.


***EDIT***
Adjusted the stat about Hoversholm's win totals in Crush history--I was using the records prior to their first game and not the current records.

********************Everything below...game has been cancelled. Enjoy the game notes anyways, but the game has been cancelled************************

Lakes Area Terror (0-1 Overall, 0-0 Midwest Premiere Football)
at
Rochester Giants (0-0 Overall, 0-0 Northern Elite Football)

May 5, 2012 – RCTC Stadium (Rochester, Minn.) – 5:00p.m. Kickoff
Non-League Game

LAST MEETING: Teams have never met in league play

ALL-TIME SERIES HISTORY: Teams have never met in league play

ROCHESTER GIANTS: 74-35 Overall All-Time, 5-12 NEFL All-Time, 8-7 Non-League All-Time
Last Game: Lost 28-6 vs St. Paul Pioneers (0-0 0-0 NEFL) on 7/23/11 (NEFL Quarterfinals)
Next Game: St. Paul Pioneers (0-0 0-0 NEFL) on 5/19/12 (5:00p.m.)

LAKES AREA TERROR: 14-34-2 Overall All-Time, 0-0 MPFL All-Time, 2-11 Non-League All-Time
Last Game: Lost 54-0 vs Eau Claire Crush (1-0 0-0 NEFL) on 4/21/12 (Non-League)
Next Game: Minnesota Sting (1-0 0-0 MPFL) on 5/12/12 (2:00p.m.)

NEFL Coaches’ Poll Ranks: N/A
NEFL Power Rankings: Giants 8 (2012 High: 8, Low: , Terror N/A

# # #

ROCHESTER GIANTS – This is the first game of the season for the Rochester Giants, who will play their home games at the Rochester Community and Technical College Stadium in Rochester, Minn. The Giants begin their twelfth season overall and third season in the NEFL. The Giants have made the playoffs ten of their eleven years in existence. Rochester finished last season with a record of 3-6 overall and in league play, losing in the NEFL quarterfinals to eventual champion St. Paul 28-6. The Giants have won five league championships in their history, all of them in the defunct Great Plains Football League every season from 2003-2007. Their head coach since 2004, Donny Holcomb, took a head coaching position at Rochester Mayo High School in the offseason. It was one of six coaching changes in the NEFL. Longtime Giants player Dexter General is the interim head coach for 2012.

The Giants and Terror have never met in league play. The NEFL is 3-1 against the MPFL in non-league play in 2012, with the final two non-league games being played Saturday (the Minnesota Sting will play the St. Paul Pioneers in the other contest). Rochester is going for its 75th win all-time, third-most amongst current NEFL teams. The Giants begin league play in the NEFL on May 19 against the defending NEFL champion St. Paul Pioneers (0-0 0-0 NEFL).

LAKES AREA TERROR – The Lakes Area Terror play their second of two non-league games against the NEFL. The Terror lost to the Eau Claire Crush (1-0 0-0 NEFL) two weeks ago, 54-0. Last year, they lost to the Lake Superior Rage (0-0 0-0 NEFL) 88-0 in a non-league contest. The Terror enter Saturday’s contest on a two-game losing streak dating back to last season.

The Terror enter their first season in the six-team MPFL. This matchup pairs up two former league champions. The Terror won the Northern Pride Football League championship in 2000, when they were known as the Twin Cities Terror. Since then, they have also been the Northern Terror and now the Lakes Area Terror. The Terror play their home games at Chisago Lakes High School. Their first game in the MPFL is next Saturday at 2:00p.m. against the Minnesota Sting (1-0 0-0 MPFL).

Minnesota Sting (1-0 Overall, 0-0 Midwest Premiere Football)
at
St. Paul Pioneers (0-0 Overall, 0-0 Northern Elite Football)

May 5, 2012 – Sea Foam Stadium (St. Paul, Minn.) – 5:00p.m. Kickoff
Non-League Game

LAST MEETING: Teams have never met

ALL-TIME SERIES HISTORY: Teams have never met

ST PAUL PIONEERS: 87-32-1 Overall All-Time, 18-3-1 NEFL All-Time, 9-7 Non-League All-Time
Last Game: Won 15-0 vs Chippewa Valley Predators (1-1 0-0 NEFL) on 8/6/11 (NEFL Championship)
Next Game: Central Wisconsin Spartans (0-0 0-0 NEFL) on 5/12/12 (4:00p.m.)

MINNESOTA STING: 10-12-1 Overall All-Time, 6-3-1 MPFL All-Time, 3-5 Non-League All-Time
Last Game: Won 23-22 vs Chippewa Valley Predators (1-1 0-0 NEFL) on 4/28/12 (Non-League)
Next Game: Lakes Area Terror (0-1 0-0 MPFL) on 5/12/12 (2:00p.m.)

NEFL Coaches’ Poll Ranks: N/A
NEFL Power Rankings: Pioneers 1 (2012 High: 1, Low: 1), Sting N/A

# # #

ST PAUL PIONEERS – This is the first game of the season for the St. Paul Pioneers, who will play their home games at Sea Foam Stadium (Concordia University). The Pioneers begin their eleventh season overall and third season in the NEFL. The Pioneers have never missed the playoffs in their history. The Pioneers finished last season with a record of 10-1-1 overall and 9-1-1 in the NEFL, winning the NEFL championship for the second straight year. The Pioneers have won three straight league championships (the now-defunct North American Football League in 2009, which at the time was one of the largest semi-professional leagues in the nation) and six league championships overall.

The Pioneers and Sting have never met. The NEFL is 3-1 against the MPFL in non-league play in 2012, with the final two non-league games being played Saturday (the Lakes Area Terror will play the Rochester Giants in the other contest). St. Paul enters Saturday’s contest on a six-game unbeaten streak, including three straight victories on the road in the 2011 NEFL playoffs. St. Paul has won more games in their history than any other member of the NEFL. The Pioneers begin league play in the NEFL next week against the Central Wisconsin Spartans (0-0 0-0 NEFL).

MINNESOTA STING – The Minnesota Sting play their second of two non-league games against the NEFL. The teams they will have played after Saturday were the participants of the 2011 NEFL championship game, Elite Bowl IV. Minnesota won against 2011 NEFL runner-up Chippewa Valley Predators last week in a thrilling 23-22 victory, going ahead with under a minute and a half to go in the game with a 70-yard touchdown pass after the Predators had scored shortly after the two-minute warning. The Sting sealed the victory by blocking a 43-yard field goal attempt.

The Sting enter their second season in the six-team MPFL, ending last season as the runner-up to the now-defunct Minnesota Phoenix. The Sting will be one of three teams to play both the Predators and Pioneers this season and the only team not in the NEFL to do so. Both teams’ most recent victory was over the Predators at Carson Park. The Sting begin league play in the MPFL next week.