Clash of the Champions: 2009 Champions prove to be too much for the Diamonds
April 10, 2010, Kansas City In a game that was billed as a Clash of Champions, it was a battle till the very end! Kansas City was coming off a 2009 IWFL Championship season to meet on the field with the 2008 Champions, the Dallas Diamonds. The Diamonds entered Kansas City with 24 rookies hungry to take on the Champions.
The Tribe won the toss and deferred to the Diamonds. They went 3 and out on their first possession of the game. The Tribe drew first blood scoring on a pass from #23 Jenny Schmidt and the point after was good putting KC up 7-0. The Diamonds and the Tribe went back and forth moving the ball up and down the field with the Diamonds scoring on a 7 yard run by #46 Jessica Springer. With the extra point good, the Diamonds tied the game at 7 all to end the 1st quarter.
As the 2nd quarter began the two teams continued moving the ball up and down the field making big plays on both sides of the ball. As the quarter was winding down # 14 Monica Foster tossed the ball to Jessica Springer, who hit a wide open # 89 Dani Welniak for the Diamonds touchdown. The Diamonds entered halftime on top 14 to 7.
Midway through the 3rd quarter with the chants of ‘Defense’ from the hundreds of Diamond’s fans that made the trip, the Tribe scored again on another bomb from Jenny Schmidt. The PAT was no good and the score was 14-13 at the end of the 3rd quarter.
No one expected this game to be such a back and forth battle, but as the 4th quarter began neither team showed signs of giving up. The Tribe scored in the first couple of minutes of the quarter to make the score 14 – 20. But, the Diamonds were not going to go down easy. With a great push from the rookie offensive line, Jessica Springer broke free for a 15 yard touchdown run to give the Diamonds the lead again at 21 – 20 with 4:26 left on the clock. But the Champions with all their timeouts and plenty of time left on the clock put together a stellar drive scoring on a beautiful pass thrown over the middle to seal the game. After converting a two point conversion and holding the Diamonds to negative yards with 1:56 left on the clock, the Tribe came away with a hard fought victory in what was truly a Clash of Champions. Final score 28-21.
“This was a heartbreak loss for us. With it being a rebuilding year, no one expected us to have a chance. I am so proud of this Diamonds team and am excited about what the rest of the season will bring” stated Diamonds owner, Dawn Berndt.
For more information about the Diamonds, check out www.dallasdiamondsfootball.com or www.iwflsports.com. Diamonds next home game is April 24, 2010 at 7pm, Pennington Field, Bedford Texas against the Minnesota Vixen.
