West Michigan ThunderHawks win DeltaPlex Debut
West Michigan ThunderHawks win DeltaPlex debut
By Howie Beardsley | The Grand Rapids Press
February 26, 2010, 11:20PM
West Michigan ThunderHawks quarterback Buddy Rivera throws against the Maryland Maniacs in Friday's season opener at the DeltaPlex. The green, 50-yard field laid out inside DeltaPlex Arena is a worn one, with almost as many black tape marks to hold down seams as there are white yard stripes.
The lone scoreboard inside the 6,116-seat facility isn't even equipped for football, since it has no capability to inform spectators of down-and-distance or location of the ball. And because of new computer programming, there were no official statistics available during or after Friday night's game between the West Michigan ThunderHawks and Maryland Maniacs.
But for the announced crowd of 1,850 and ThunderHawks coaches and players, none of the opening-night glitches mattered while West Michigan took care of the Maniacs, 52-36, at the Indoor Football League's inaugural game in Grand Rapids.
Arena football was back for the first time since the Grand Rapids Rampage and the financially strapped Arena Football League suspended operations after the 2008 season.
"It feels real good to have guys coming from a lot of places to bring arena football back to Grand Rapids, and also to be the only team in Michigan. It's a great feeling," said running back Robert Height III, a former Northwood University standout who scored on a 16-yard run and a 20-yard pass from quarterback Buddy Rivera (Grandville and Northern Michigan).
"Hopefully, we can have a name like the Grand Rapids Rampage had. We're serious about this."
Rivera also tossed a 12-yard touchdown pass to Bryan Pray and shared quarterback duties with Dan Richard (Rockford and Ferris State).
Richard accounted for a 15-yard touchdown pass to Nathan Fricke (Ferris State) and a 2-yard scoring sneak in the fourth quarter to help the ThunderHawks defeat the IFL's defending Atlantic Division champion.
"West Michigan is a great spot for football," ThunderHawks coach Terry Foster said. "I went to Grand Valley. This is my home now, so it feels good to bring arena football back to town. And to get a win in our first game as the ThunderHawks make it even more special."
The team was known as the Muskegon Thunder last season, when they went 1-13 as a first-time member of the IFL and lost three times to the Maniacs.
"Coming from 1-13 last year, playing the Atlantic Division champion from last year and beating them, I give us a B-plus for our opener," Foster said. "We made a lot of mistakes and have to get better, but we fought to get this win."
The ThunderHawks received additional scoring on a 23-yard interception return from former Ferris State cornerback Doug Emery (Creston), and field goals of 18, 24, 27, 39 and 41 yards from former Grand Valley State kicker David Hendrix.
Maryland quarterback Bryson Spinner ran for a score and threw for a touchdown, but also was intercepted four times -- twice by James Skodak, once by Emery and once by former Michigan State cornerback Aric Morris.
