Big Night From Backs Not Enough in Road Loss
By Colin Hogan | Rattlers Media
FISHERS, Ind. – Despite 257 yards of offense and a combined five touchdowns from its running backs, the Arizona Rattlers could not slow down the Fishers Freight attack in a 63-42 loss on Sunday night at Fishers Event Center.
Fishers scored on nine straight possessions and put up 233 yards of offense. Over 167 of those yards came on the ground as the Freight ran 30 run plays to just eight passing plays.
"That was a good old-fashioned ass-whipping," Rattlers Head Coach Kevin Guy said following the loss which evened the Rattlers' record at 1-1. "We went young this year, and we're gonna go through some growing pains. We got exactly what we deserved. We've got to coach better, and we've got to play better."
Fishers Freight opened the scoring on the game's second play when running back Joshiah King broke away for a 13-yard touchdown run. King ended the night with 123 yards of total offense and three touchdowns.
Quarterback Max Meylor and the Rattlers offense answered right back. After a third-and-long completion to wide receiver Arland Bruce, Guy went into his bag of tricks from the Rattlers 19-yard line with a flea-flicker with Meylor connecting with running back Ron Brown Jr. for a 31-yard touchdown.
Brown ended the night with two receiving touchdowns.
King and the Freight offense came right back pounding the Rattlers on the ground. Four plays later, Fishers found themselves back in the end zone after a 10-yard touchdown run from King.
Freight kicker Calum Sutherland added to their lead with a deuce on the ensuing kickoff.
Running Back Kymani Clarke, seeing his first action for the Rattlers, answered the nine-point swing in a big way. The former Green Bay Blizzards back, who scored 19 rushing touchdowns last season, broke away for a 30-yard scamper to the end zone to put Arizona within two. Clarke ended his Rattlers debut with 50 yards of offense and three touchdowns.
Freight quarterback Felix Harper kept the game's back-and-forth start going when he connected with wide receiver JT Stokes on fourth down for a 29-yard touchdown.
Harper ended the night completing 75% of his passes for 66 yards and three scores while also adding 41 rushing yards.
Early in the second quarter, Meylor found Brown open out of the backfield for a 13-yard touchdown, then King struck again taking the ensuing kickoff for his third touchdown of the first half.
Fishers came up with the game's first stop on the Rattlers following possession and proceeded to add on 13 more points before the half could close. After allowing just 27 points to San Diego in week one, the Rattlers found themselves trailing 42-21 at halftime.
Clarke added two more scores in the second half, while Meylor also ran one in, but the Freight ground game would not stop rolling. While King carried the load in the first half, running back Dominic Roberto took over in the second half for Fishers.
The 230=pound power back ran for 56 yards and three touchdowns, two of which came in the second half.