War over the river

06/25/03 TB1

When the Reddogs and Storm met up in week two of the NIFL, Reddogs fans were riding high the previous week.  They had given the "much improved" Wyoming Cavalry an 81-60 beating in a game that wasn't as close as the score shows. Sioux Falls had different ideas for this game though. All through the preseason we heard the hype of a young gunslinger named Ryan Johnson taking over in SF. Ryan had huge shoes to fill as every new QB in SF has had to do. Johnson was brought into replacing Ryan Aulenbacher, who left for the expansion team in Green Bay in the AF2.Not only that but on the Storm roster were two familiar names to Reddogs fans, Kicker/hero Adam Hicks and WR/QB/Mr. Do it all Casey Veenhof. Needless to say neither received a warm reception.  The game finally got underway and played right into SF hands, it was a slow, low scoring affair. Not the track meet that the dogs wanted to bring into the pound. After an Adam Hicks field goal with 2:56 remaining. The Reddogs backs were against the wall literally.  On a second down play from the 15, on that play Adrian Perez beat the SF db so badly you'd think he stole something. Terrance found Adrian wide open in the endzone and after a terrific grab and a Joe Dirt XP the Reddogs went up by four. On the next drive Johnson delivered an excellent ball in the end zone to Corey Walker, but an offensive pass interference negated the TD. Three plays later Greg Van Leer made a game ending INT too win it for Rapid City. Since then the Storm have gotten King Kong to jump off their back as they avoided the slide; but don't worry, King Kong is not homeless, he simply swam the river and is now on the backs of the Reddogs.  Coming off a playoff ending hard to swallow defeat by Billings, the Reddogs had a bye week to lick there open gashes. There is nothing more the"Clifford" would like to do is to put a big damper on the hopes of the hot storm. There are two huge differences in this game from the week two meeting. Johnson, after not living up to the hype is nowhere to be found in SF, he lost his job soon after the loss and Casey V. took the reins. But this isn't Casey's team anymore either, as Aulenbacher as rejoined the Storm. The other important key is the Storm are playing at home where they never seem to lose. So indoor fans get ready for another heart attack on 50 yards as the dogs and storm tangle.

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