Marshals Squish Fish.
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| Bickem caught 6 passes for 98 yards 2 for Tds. |
The Waco Marshals playing host to the only team that beat them in a week 3 10 to 18 loss to the Birmingham Bettas gained some retrobution by defeating the Bettas in the playoffs 26 to 3 in dominating fashion. Curtis Bickem did it again both receiving and rushing, putting up solid numbers, Bickem managed 164 yards on the ground and a Td against a strong Bettas defense , he also contributaed by catching 6 passes for 98 yards and 2 tds.
The Marshals defense really stepped up and outplayed the Birmingham defens by allowing 0 yards rushing and giving up only a 41 yard Fg by Shane Fleming.
With the win the Marshals will be gearing up to face the 13 and 1 Baton Rouge Battle-Cats in Blitzcup I next week for the league championship.
Marshals finish regular season on high note.
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| Curtis Bickem runs for 292 yards and 3 tds against Generals. |
In the season finale at home against a tough Wichita Generals defens the Marshals behind the powerful legs of Curtis Bickem defeated the Generals 28 to 19.
Marshals RB Curtis Bickem had another great game against a great defensive team rushing for 292 yards and 3 TDs in what many would consider a low scoring game for the Marshals. The defense played a solid game giving up only 10 points, the special teams gave up a 74 yard kick return for a TD to the Generals Sterling Mueller.
With their 28 to 19 win the Waco Marshals finished the seaon with a 13 and 1 record securing them home field advantage for the playoffs.
Marshals to much for Defenders.
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| DT Jon DeRosier a a big day sacking Defenders QB Matt Dunnigan 5 times. |
For the 5th week in a row the Marshals high powered offense put up over 40 points, for the 3rd game in the last 4 Curtis Bickem gained over 200 yards rushing for 308 yards and 5 TDs, and for the 3rd game in a row the Marshals Bounty Hunter Defense did not allow a TD holding the Michigan Defenders to a lone FG in the 3rd qtr in route to a 45 to 3 in over the Defenders.
Billy Simon completed 10 of 13 passes for 152 yards and 1 TD, Simon's favorite target all season ,Joe DeRosier had 6 grabs for 90 yards and 1 TD.
DT # 69 Jon DeRosier anchored the Marshals defense with 6 tackles and 5 sacks giving him 15 on the year tieimg him for the team lead with Adonis Nunn.
With the Marshals dominating win over the Defenders they improved their record to 12 and 1 with 1 game to go.
Marshals Billy Simon airs it out against the Wolfpack.
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| Simon set Marshals single game record with 551 yards through the air. |
In an effort to rest Curtis Bickem for the playoff push head coach Major Applewhite changed his coaching style to a pass only offense allowing Billy Simon to air it out, and air it out he did. Simon completed 37 of 71 pass attempts in route to 551 yards passing , 5 TDs and 3 picks. The only non passing TD came in the second quarter when FB Ibraham Tounkara hit paydirt with a 1 yard plunge into the endzone. Adonis Nunn played a huge part in the Marshals convincing 45 to 6 win over the Wolfpack with 7 tackle and 4 sacks.
The Marshals relentless passing attack although succesful had its down as as team leading WR Joe DeRosier is now suffering from bruised ankle and WR Curtis Wendt left the game with a sore back, both players are listed as probable for the week 13 match up against the Michigan Defenders and both are expected to play. The smae cannot be said for fan favorite DT Don Brucker as he is expected to miss the remainder of the season with a severly broken ankle.
Bickem runs wild on AfterShock.
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| Bickem dominated Atlanta rushing for 309 yards and 6 TDs. |
For the second week in a row superstar Curtis Bickem put up huge numbers breaking his own record for most rushing yards ina game with 309 and tied his record of 6 rushing TDs in a game in the Marshals 49 to 9 win against the Atlanta Aftershock bringing the Marshals 1 game closer to naming the Waco Marshals as Prarie Division Champions.
Also contributing for the Marshals win was Billy Simon who completed 9 of 11 passes for 156 yards and 1 TD. Rodney Williams playing for the injured John Erickson at DE made an impact deffensively with 4 tackles and 2 sacks.
With the win against tlanta the Marshals now sit with a comfortable lead in the Prarie Division with a 10 and 1 record with 3 games left in the seaon against struggling teams the Las Vegas Wolfpack who they easily defeated juts 1 week ago 72 to 7, the Michigan Defenders and the talented Defensive minded Wichita Generals.
Marshals to much for Wolfpack.
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| Bickem ran wild agaisnt Wolpack racking up 299 yards and 6 TDs. |
In the week prior to the matchup with the Wolfpack headcoach Major Applewhite had concerns of a letdown against a sturggling Wolpack team. "All week the satff and myself kept drilling it inot the guys heads that we couldn't afford a let down and we needed to stay focused, its much easier to focus on your upcoming opponent when you are palying an elite teams such as Birmingham or Baton Rouge or a team you dispise like Montreal or Denver. Its really easy to take a struggling team like Las Vegas lightly and end up taking one on the chin but fortunatley for us that didn't happen and the guys played a hell of a game and we got the W" said Major Applewhite.
A letdown was far from the case as the Marshals jumped to a 23 to 0 lead in the 1st qtr and added another 28 points in the 2nd going into halftime with a comfortable 51 to 0 lead, being held scoreless for the 3rd qtr the Marshals finished strong by scoring 21 more points in the 4th even being accused of running up the score , finishing with a league high inal of 72 to 7.
In a game with many oustanding performances by the Marshals, most noteably Curtis Bickem who ran over and around the Wolfpack defense like they were a Pop Warner squad finished with 299 yards rushing and 6 Tds, he also added another Td recieving the bal and finished with 7 total tds for the game. "Bickem was a freak today, did you see what he was doing ?, I'm just gald I wasn't out there as one of the guys trying to wrap him up, and to think this guy was sitting at home playing PS2 as an umemployed FB just days before the start of the season, now the guy is unstoppable and I'm willing to bet that there are plenty of sorry GM/Owners who are kicking themselves for not calling him said Jackson Wenberg after the game.
Jackson Wenberg caught more passes form David Carr did than any of the Wolfpack wideouts picking Carr off 4 times. "Holy crap does that guy suck someone should gouge out his eyes, after my 3rd pick I went back to our sideline and asked if I had been traded to the Wolfpack" quoted Jackson wenberg after the game.
Punt return specialist Jimmy Stahl returned a punt 58 yards for a TD in the 1st and QB Billy Simon continued to play outstanding as he connected on 12 of 16 passes for 171 yards , 3 TDs and no picks.
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| Billy Simon led the impressive ariel attack with a 145.3 QB rating. |
Marshals Ground Concordes.
After a slow start and a subpar first quarter that had the Marshals trailing the Concordes 6 to 0 in Montreal the defense tighted and the offense errupted for 24 second quarter points which was to much for the sorry Montreal 2 play offens to over come as the Marshals rode away to victory 48 to 23.
Leading the Marshals ariel assault was MLF top rated passer who was as close to unstoppable as a QB can be in the MLF. Billy Simon completed 13 of 21 passes for 282 yards and 4 TDs with no picks on way to setting a MLF single game record for QB rating with 145.3.
Simon was able to pick apart and exploit a weak Montreal secondary completing passes at will, his 1st TD pass didn't come until the 2nd quarter when he hit a streaking Joe DeRosier down the left sideline for a 73 yard score, Simon had 2 more TDs in the 2nd when hit DeRosier for his second score of the game from 12 yards out, and Curtis Wendt with a 36 yard TD, Simon had his 4th and final TD pass of the game when he connected with Curtis Bickem in the endzone on a 10 yard bullet. Bickem also added 77 yards rushing and became the first back in the MLF to break 1000 yards rushing this season he also had 2 rushing TDs. Joe DeRosier had an equally impressive game hauling in 7 Simon passes for 175 yards and a pair of TDs.
"Finally we get to leave that good for nothing country, I'll be glad to be heading home to the States its just to damn hard trying to play football wearing a nose plug, damn why does Canaduh have to smell so wretched" said Jackson Wenberg> Wenberg asl added "Montreal is by far the suckiest place I have ever played the city sucks, the team sucks, the fans suck, Phil Cote sucks , Winfield sucks their choice of name , colors and logos suck their coaching staff and ownership sucks hmmmm upon further review I think they should change their little catch phrase from "Come Fly With Us" to "Come Suck with us" Montreal just flat outsucks.
Marshals escape Tampa with win.
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| A tough day at the office for Nigel Gruff as he missed 3 out of 5 fg attempts. |
The Tamp SunDogs gave the Marshals and their number 1 ranked offense in the league all they could handle Sunday as the Marshasl high powered offense had a hard time finding the endzone. Despite the awesome play of the SunDogs the Marshals escaped with a 13 to 10 come from behind win.
Although the Tampa defense played stingy league leading rusher Curtis Bickem still managed to put up MVP like numbers gaining 174 yards on the ground and added 94 yards receiving on 8 catches and a td.
It was a horrible day at the office so to speak for K Nigel Gruff who connected on only 2 out of 5 fg attempts but when the game was on the line he was clutch hitting a 22 yard game winning fg with just 13 seconds left in the game.
Marshals skin Battlecats.
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| WR Joe DeRosier had 6 cathes for 77 yards and 2 TDs against Baton Rouge. |
The Waco Marshals continued their dominating ways in the MLF by beating the # 1 ranked Baton Rouge Battlecats 21 to 10, handing Baton Rouge their first loss of the season.
The Marshals put up 21 points against a tough Battlecats defense who through 6 weeks of play had given up only 23 points. Billy Simon and Joe DeRosiser balzed the way as they hooked up for 2 td passes. The big story of the day was the play of back up LB Errick Herrin, while filling in for strter Evan Rognerud (fractured ankle in week 6) , Herrin stepped it up with his 6 tackles , 2 sacks and 1 int.
The lone td for the Battlecats came as a result of a 42 yard int return for a td.
With the win over the Battlecats the Marshals improved to 6 and 1 and have taken over the # 1 rankning in the MLF.
Guns Up ! Marshals Ambush Altitude.
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| Curtis Bickem rushed for 223 yards and 3 TDs including this 55 yard scamper to paydirt. |
In what turned out to be the complete oppisite of the first meeting between the Altitude and Marshals, The Marshals suprised the Altitude, their fans and the entire MLF as they blew out Denver 35 to 6 in front of a sold out Waco stadium.
Behind the powerful legs of RB Curtis Bickem and the dominating play of the offensive line that kept the Altitudes defense off Billy Simon by not allowing a sack and open up some huge holes for Bickem that allowed him to rush for 223 yards on 27 carries for a nice 8.3 yards per carry average and 3 Tds including a 55 yard Td run in the 2nd quarter.
Billy Simon completed 75% of his passes for 170 yards and no picks. "Its nice when you only have to throw 16 times in a game, the O-line did an excellent job of protecting me and Bickem was simply unstoppable" said Waco QB Billy Simon.
The defense who earlier in the season took some lumps from the MLF media stating that they were the weak link of the team has continued to dominate as they allowed the Altitude only 2 field goals. Denver Brian Scratcherd was picked off twice and sacked 5 times including 2 by Jackson Wenberg, and Bjorn Thompson was a non factor for Denver. "I can't beleive the Altitduds thought they would come into our house and beat us, they must of been high when they thought that we kicked their @$# for the second time this season and sent them whimpering hoe with their tails between their legs like a beaten dog" said Jackson Wenberg.
Marshals dominate Skullsmashers.
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| Big talking MLB Jackson Wenberg had his best game of the season with 7 tackles and 2 sacks against Edmonton. |
The Marshals improved to 4 and 1 on the seaon as they dominated on both sides of the ball shutting out the struggling Edmonton Skullsmashers 33 to 0.
The Marshals scored 30 of their 33 points in the firts half as Edmontons offense was for the most part nonexsitance. Just 3 plays into the game Edmonton's Rashie Salan was tackled in the endzone by CB Vern Gardocki for a saftey and it was all downhill for the Skullsmashers from their. On their second possesion og the game Edmonto QB Butch Armstrong was picked of by Butch Smalter who then returned the pick 21 yards for the touchdown. Jackson Wenberg also shined as the trash talking hard hitting MLB had his best game of the season as he made 7 tackles and had 2 sacks and provided constant pressure on the Skullsmahers QBs all game long.
The Marshals offens continued to click as QB Billy Simon had another great game completing 19 of 26 passes for 287 yards and 2 TDs including a 74 yard TD pass to Joe DeRosier in the second qtr.
Curtis Bickem continued his quest to lead the league in all pyrpose yard with 88 yard on the gorund with a td and had 55 yards receiving with a receiving td.
"Overall I couldn't have asked for a more complete game from my team, the offense played great again and the defense realy shinned and set the tone early with the safetyand the interception return for a td, the defense really stepped up and did a number on Edmonton's offense, Its really nice going into our rematch against Denver on a bit of a roll , and clicking on all cylinders" said Major Applewhite.
Back in the saddle , Marshals hang Generals.
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| Adonis Nunn with 1 of his 2 sacks on Jamey Dartmouth. |
After being handed their first loss of the season to the Birmingham Bettas the Waco Marshals regained their form on offense and defeated the Wichita Generals 24 to 6.
The Marshals wasted no time in establishing the rushing game and Curtis Bickem finished the game with 130 yards and 2 Tds on 27 carries. Billy Simon played a solid game connecting on 20 of 29 passes for 224 yards and 1 Td and most importantly no picks. On the receiving end was Joe DeRosire who had 7 catches for 105 yards. The play of the offensive line was stellar as "The 5 Guardsman" did not allow the Generals pass rush a sack. "The offensive line did a great job of keeping the solid Generals defense off of me and opening up some nice holes for C.B." said Billy Simon.
But the big story of the day was the continued improvement of the Marshals defense that sacked Generals QB Jamey Dartmouth 8 times and held Wichita to only 155 total yards and 1 late 4th quarter td. "I don't give a rats @$# about the Generals playing without Mueller, they can use that as an excuse if they want but our defense is improving every time we go out there, I was so sick and tired about hearing how good Wichita's defense was and how we wouldn't be able to score on them it really fired up the D when we scored that first TD on them. Wichita and their sorry wheat eatin @#$ can kiss mine: quoted MLB Jackson Wenberg.
Offense spin wheels, Marshals lose to fish.
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| QB Billy Simon faced a heavy pass rush from Bettas tough defense. |
Despite beating the Birmingham Bettas in just about every offensive catagory possible the Marshals high powered offensive attack could failed in what is the most important stat and thats the finla score.
The week 3 matchup against the Bettas was a game of firsts for the Marshals, their first loss of the seaon, the first time they were held under 20 points , the fisrt time Billy Simon threw an interception and the first time the offensive line gave up a sack (6 total). Billy Simon facing a tough Betta defense had his worst game of the season completeing on 47% of his passes for 106 yards with 1 TD and 1 pick, adding insult to injury Simon was forced to leave the game with an ankle sprain after being sacked in the 4th quarter by Bettas LB Jonathan Jackson. Simon's replacement Dylan Berry didn't fare any better as the Bettas defense put on the clamps and shut down the Marshals passing game.
In the 18 to 10 loss to the Bettas there were little highlights for the Marshals, their lone TD coming from a 12 yard td reception by Curtis Wendt.
"Its bets to put a game like this behind us and start looking forward to our next opponent the Wichita Generals" said Major Applewhite.
Marshals survive Altitude in come from behind win.
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| QB Billy Simon and Joe DerRosier stepped up when the Marshals needed them the most. |
After a week full of hype and trash talk the Marshals and Altitude met all expectaions and did not dissapoint the game of the week billing with the most exciting game in the MLF's young season.
The Marshals drew firts when Billy Simon connected with do everyting back Curtis Bickem with a 21 yard TD pass.
The Marshals extended their lead at half time 14 to 3 but it was shorth lived as Denver QB Brian Scracherd led the Altitude to 3 unanswered Tds including a pair of TD passes and a 1 yard plunge by RB Bjorn Thompson giving the Altitude a 10 point lead.
Down 24 to 14 with only 8:03 remaining in the game Billy Simon rallied the Marshals with a 4 yard TD pass to FB Ibraham Tounkara, but failed on the 2 point conversion attempt. Leaving the Marshals down by 4 , 24-20 with only 4:13 left.
The Marshals defense finally stepped up and forced what would be the biggest 3 and out for the defensive unit that would give Billy Simon one last chance. Simon looked calm as he led the Marshals on an impressive drive that was capped by a 12 yard TD pass to his favorite target Joe DeRosier making the score 26 to 24 , the Marshals made good on their second attempt at the 2 point conversion making the final score 28 - 24.
On a side note the biggest trash talkers of the week didn't do much to back what the were saying as Homer Parrish (5 tackles) and Jackson Wenberg (2 tackles) were almost non factors in the exciting matchup.
The Marshals triple threat of Billy Simon, Joe DeRosier and Curtis Bickem were once again the big stars for the Marshals offense. Simon completed 21 of 37 passes for 329 yards 3 TDs and most importantly no picks. DeRosier had 14 cathes for a whopping 214 yards and 1 TD, and last but not least Mr All Purpose Curtis Bickem rushed for 73 yards and 1 TD and also had 100 yards receiving on 11 catches with 1 TD.
Marshals gun down Panthers 38-16 !!!.
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| Curtis Bickem rushed for 167 yds with 3 tds in Waco's home opener against Milwaukee. |
Everything went right for the Waco Marshals 2005 home opener against the Milwaukee Panthers in front of a sellout crowd at Waco field, as the Marshals pounded the Panthers 38 - 16.
Despite falling behind 7 to 0 early on in the game when Milwaukee's Pat O'Hara hooked up with Marvin Moses for a 14 yard touchdown pass to take the lead. Waco QB Billy Simon not to be out done hit Joe DeRosier in the endzone for a 5 yard TD pass of his own to even things out, then free agent signee Curtis Bickem took over for the Marshals rushing for 167 yard on 32 carries with 3 touchdowns, Bickem also did his share on the receiving end with 7 catches for 86 yards and 1 touchdown.
Billy Simon looked sharp completing 12 of 13 passes for 165 yards and 2 tds. Defensively the Marshals did a great job containing Panthers RB Howard Taft holding him to just 48 yards.
"Overall we played a great game on both sides of the ball, Bickem and Simon really played their asses off and the DEE did an awesome job shutting down Milwaukee's offense, after Milwaukees 1st score I was a bit worried" said head coach Major Applewhite after the game.
