EVERETT – The ninth man is indeed alive and well.
With 4,374 fans screaming deliriously, the Everett Hawks stopped a two-point conversion attempt with 14.2 seconds remaining and escaped with a 64-62 victory over the Tri-Cities Fever in a wild National Indoor Football League game Thursday at the Everett Events Center.
The fans made a big difference in a Western Division contest that resulted in Everett improving to 5-0 and Tri-Cities slipping to 2-3.
“The fans were great,” Everett coach Dan Maciejczak said. “I don’t know if they realize what a difference it makes when the other team can’t hear when they’re on offense.”
With Everett clinging to a 58-56 lead in the waning minutes – an eternity in the NIFL – Albert Higgs ran 22 yards for a touchdown on his only rushing attempt of the game to give the Hawks breathing room with 24 seconds remaining. His conversion kick missed.
Tri-Cities came back to score when Nick Iano caught a 9-yard touchdown pass from Doug Coleman with 14.2 seconds remaining. On the potential tying conversion, Travis Salter stopped the Fever’s Jarvis Dunn, though the game wasn’t clinched until Hawks defensive back Jaquwan Brackenridge secured the onside kick.
“Salt made a great read on the play, but the whole secondary did too,” Maciejczak said of the critical final stop.
Salter (nine tackles) was named defensive player of the game. Defensive back Jerry Jones had five tackles for a defense that made stops when it absolutely had to.
In a back-and-forth battle that featured multiple lead changes, the Hawks trailed 49-40 early in the fourth quarter. They went ahead to stay on Anthony Simmons 11-yard TD run with 2:35 to play. Verna Owens added the two-point conversion for a 58-56 lead and the crowd screamed its collective approval.
“I don’t know if we had any heroes,” Maciejczak said. “They were all great. But this one is on the crowd. All of sudden they realized how important they are. They amped up our guys and that’s what the guys play for because it sure isn’t the money.”
Everett’s Cory Grow was the recipient of four touchdown passes from Higgs and finished with 91 yards on nine receptions. Higgs completed 19 of 32 attempts for 215 yards and five TDs.
Antonio Chandler caught three passes for 66 yards.
Running back Verna Owens hammered out 40 yards on nine carries, including a pair of TDs.
Not to be lost in the shuffle of a high-powered offense was Simmons, who amassed 242 all-purpose yards, including 193 on kickoff returns.
The Hawks trailed by 10 points in the first half and by as much as nine in the second half.
“The guys could have got down and quit,” Maciejczak said. “But, we came together and just didn’t let anything bother us.”
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