Team A Scores Opening Day Upset

Wins Heartstopping Overtime Game

Matt Albert
TFL Illustrated

CHAMPAIGN--The 2007 season started with a bang as Team A (1-0) won a close overtime battle with Team B (0-1), 28-21. The winning touchdown came on Kevin Dobbeck's 10 yard pass to Andrew Wheaton at the end of the first overtime. The rookie Dobbeck came up big for Team A when starting quarterback Eric Forry went down with what could be a season ending injury to an unspecified knee. On second down from the 10 yard line, Dobbeck floated a pass to the back corner of the end zone where it landed safely in Wheaton's arms for the upset win.

"I just wanted to keep the passes short because we were killing ourselves all day with long patterns that weren't working out. On that last play, the only thing I could think was that he was [EXPLETIVE] open," said Dobbeck.

Wheaton also had a media-savvy answer for what happened. "When you're in prime athletic condition like I am, it's as if the game slows down for you. I knew [Dobbeck] had all the time in the world."



Cinderella story of 2007? (Photo courtesy of Michelle Lewis)


After replacing the injured Forry, Dobbeck completed an impressive 10 out of 13 passes for 58 yards. Wheaton led all Team A receivers with 2 touchdowns. Credit should also be given to Scott Wujek who caught no passes but did serve as a decoy to free up Wheaton, Alex Binek, (1 TD reception) and ringer Andrew Imig to catch Dobbeck's passes. It is a strategy that many may question, but they can't question the results.

Before his injury, Forry ran for one touchdown and completed one pass for nine yards.

The biggest surprise of the day, though, was Team B's inability to live up to the preseason hype. They appeared more than capable in the first half as they only took three plays to score the first touchdown of the season. After throwing a 24 yard bomb to Sean Cartner, starting quarterback Ben Randecker found Cartner again for a 3 yard score with only 3 minutes gone by.



Overrated? (Photo courtesy of Michelle Lewis)


Randecker was 12 for 29 with 88 yards passing, but the majority of it came in the first half. In the second half, Randecker had a hard time finding Cartner and had to rely on Jon Huffman (52 yards receiving) for most of the passing game. Randecker did manage to throw a TD pass to Cartner late in the second half that tied up the game at 21.

Team A only trailed once but led 14-7 at halftime.

Game Notes

The field was very muddy yet playable due to the extensive rain from the day before...Many players from Team A did not show up, but nobody seemed to complain about the ringers...The opening drive by Team B was the quickest scoring drive in TFL history at that point. It would later be broken in the second game by Team C.