Lehigh Valley Steelhawks quarterback Adam Bednarik said his ankle was hurting on Saturday night, but the Bethlehem Catholic graduate said a 66-64 Professional Indoor Football League loss to the Richmond Raiders at Stabler Arena hurt him much more.
Bednarik, back in action after missing last week’s game with a bone chip in his left ankle, completed 22 of 38 passes for 256 yards and five touchdowns. He also ran for two scores.
But two fourth-quarter interceptions proved too much to overcome and the Steelhawks fell to 2-4 on the season with six games remaining.
This was Lehigh Valley’s third loss by two points or less.
“It’s disappointing to say the least,” Bednarik said. “To be leading the whole game like we did and not to be able to get it done; I put the blame on myself.”
Lehigh Valley led 29-8 after one quarter and didn’t trail in the second half until Herb Jones caught a 10-yard TD pass from Warren Smith with 4:44 remaining.
That touchdown came one play after a RoShawn Marshall interception and runback marked the first time Bednarik had been intercepted since the first game of the season.
Lehigh Valley regrouped and drove to the Richmond 14 in the closing seconds, but again Marshall picked off Bednarik on third down to put the game away with 52 seconds left.
“To be honest, I didn’t have a real good grip on the ball and it kind of fluttered out of my hand,” Bednarik said of the second interception. “I didn’t put it in the right spot because I didn’t get as much on it as I would have liked.”
Those turnovers helped to limit Lehigh Valley to just 13 second-half points and only three in the fourth quarter after the Steelhawks seemed unstoppable in registering 51 first-half points one week after scoring 77 against Alabama.
“They made some adjustments and give them credit for doing a good job,” Bednarik said of Richmond. “But in the second half we tried to run the ball a little more. And they started the second half with the ball, so we just had less time of possession. It was just disappointing, especially the way we’ve lost games this year.”
Bednarik said the team could easily be 5-1 instead of 2-4.
“We have so much talent and potential on this team,” he said. “Hopefully, we can still make a run down the stretch.”
Lehigh Valley is back home for a 4 p.m. game against Columbus on May 5.
The extra day off before the next game might help Bednarik, who admitted that the ankle injury was a factor.
“I definitely tried to hold off running the ball,” he said. “In the first half, I could have taken off for a first down, but I was a little hesitant running it. I was fine dropping back to pass. But planting and trying to take off and run, I was hindered a little bit. I tried to block it out and I was having fun the whole game .. at least up until the end there.”
In his return
Richmond Raiders – 8 – 31 – 20 – 7 – 66
LV Steelhawks -- 29 – 22 – 10 – 3 -- 64
Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER
RR -- T.C. Stevens rouge for one point, 15:00
LV – Tyrone Collins 2 pass from Adam Bednarik (kick failed), 1:45
LV – Bednarik 1 run (Evan Selman kick), 11:19
LV --Selman rouge for one point, 7:15
RR – Jason Lovett 28 pass from Warren Smith (Stevens kick), 6:02
LV-- Torieal Gibson 40 pass from Bednarik (Selman kick), 5:42
LV—Tom Gilson 9 pass from Bednarik (Selman kick), 0:27
SECOND QUARTER
RR – Mike Jones 3 run (Stevens kick), 13:59
LV – Tyrone Collins 14 pass from Bednarik (Selman kick), 11:55
RR – Jason Lovett 33 pass from Smith (Stevens kick), 10:40
RR – Jason Lovett 12 pass from Smith (Stevens kick) 6:55
LV –Torieal Gibson 16 pass from Bednarik (Selman kick), 4:02
LV – Selman rouge for one point, 3:35
RR – Jason Lovett 37 pass from Smith (Stevens kick) 2:20
LV – Bednarik 2 run (Selman kick), 0:42
RR – Stevens 21 FG, 0:04
THIRD QUARTER
RR – Hakim Moore 34 pass from Smith (Stevens kick), 12:55
LV – EJ Webb 18 run (Selman kick), 10:35
RR – Moore 33 pass from Smith (Stevens kick), 9:33
LV – Selman 32 FG, 6:43
RR – Jason Lovett 15 pass from Smith (Stevens kick), 1:52
FOURTH QUARTER
LV – Selman 27 FG, 11:51
RR – Herb Jones 10 pass from Smith, 4:44
Attendance: 1,171
No comments:
Post a Comment