As well as their season, with the final home game loss to the Albany Firebirds, 58-55.  If the Iron were to have won, they would have been in the playoffs since they have already defeated the Firebirds earlier in the season.  However, it was Firebird’s defensive lineman David Tash who recovered a Todd Hammell fumble for a 4 yard score that proved to be the difference maker in the game.  The first quarter was the only period where the Iron were outscored by the Firebirds, 6 – 14.  Without that defensive score in the middle of the 2nd quarter, the Iron would have been the top dogs heading to the playoffs.

The Iron powned the Firebirds in offensive statistics.  The Iron finished with 313 total offensive yards compared to the Firebirds 220.  The Iron averaged 7.0 yards per play.  The Iron averaged 16.2 yards per return.  The Iron defense held Firebird’s quarterback Stephen Wasil to 211 yards off of 24 completions, while throwing 1 interception as well.  Anthony Rodriguez lead the Firebird’s recievers with 8 catches for 87 yards and 1 touchdown.

The Iron offense was powered by qb Hammel who finished with 317 yards on 24 completions and 7 touchdowns.  Scott Burnoski was the main target for Hammel as he hauled in 8 cataches for 100 yards and 2 touchdowns.  Robert Gill had his best game catching 7 passes for 102 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Finishing the season at 5-11, the Iron tie with Peoria Pirates and the Quad City Steamrollers in the Midwest division, which was dominated by the Iowa Barnstormers (12-4) and Green Bay Blizzard (10-6).  The Iron’s head coach Gary Compton should be pleased how the team continuosly fought throughout the 2nd half to come back.  But on any given Friday, it’s not always the best team that wins.

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Down 35 – 57 going into the 4th quarter, with Tyler Donovan (the starting qb for the Milwaukee Iron) on the bench due to an injured knee, the Iron battled their way back to defeat the Peoria Pirates 62 – 57.  Donovan and Shane Adler combined for 274 yards through the air with 6tds and only 1 interception.  On the ground the Iron offense rushed for -6 yards, no so good… Although, they did score twice on the ground.  Scott Burnoski lead the Iron recievers with 7 catches for 100 yards and 2 touchdowns.  Ricard Lenhart was right behind Burnoski with 5 catched for 88 yards and 3 touchdowns.  Blue Aldridge lead the Iron on defense with 6 total tackles.  The Iron are looking for their first home game victory against the #2 team in the National Conference, the Tulsa Talons (6-1).  After Friday’s game, the Iron get their first bye week to finish off the first half of the season.

April 3, 2009
In their inaugural game at the Bradley Center the Milwaukee Iron lost 60-38 to the Iowa Barnstormers.  The Iron were the first to jump onto the scoreboard with a 47 yard pass from QB Shane Adler to WR Antoine Burns.  On Iowa’s next possession, Joe Brannen linked up with Tim Dodge for the score to tie the game 7-7.  But before the 1st quarter closed out the Iron were back on the board for the score thanks to Tyre Youngs’ 3 yard touchdown run.  All 5,238 fans in attendance were excited to see the Iron come out ready to play.
In the 2nd quarter, the Barnstormers caught fire lighting up the Iron for 26 unanswered points.  A 40 yard interception return by Barnstormers’ Jordan Davis and then fumble recovery in the end zone by Jason Ripke were 2 things that really swung the momentum to the Barnstormers during the 2nd quarter.  With less than 50 seconds left in the 1st half, Antoine Burns took a 30 yard pass from Wisconsin’s former QB Tyler Donanvan to the house, putting the score at 33-21.  7 seconds later, Ken Williams returned the kickoff 11 yards for the Barnstormer score.
Offensively, the 3rd quarter was owned by the Barnstormers as they put up 20 unanswered points, which was just enough to keep the game out of reach for the Iron.  With 2:10 and 44s left on the clock, the Iron scored for a final of 60-38.  Throughout the game there were far too many miscues by the Iron to pull off a victory with fumbles, dropped balls that were obviously catchable and miss thrown balls.  However, with out the mistakes the Iron looked as though they were able to play some ball.
Head Coach Gary Compton said in the post game press conference that “the defense did their job.”   With Iowa only finishing with 121 total offensive yards, this was the case.  MKE actually lead in all offensive categories finishing with 17 first downs, 33 rushing yards, 2 rushing TDs, 3 passing TDs, 209 yards in the air and even 50 total offensive plays. Donovan went 11-27 for 149 yards, 2tds, and 2 sacks, with 23 yards on the ground too.  Adler went 5-9 plus  1 INT, 1 TD and 1  sack.  Scoot Burnoski lead all Iron receivers with 7 catches, but Burns finished with 97 yards and 3 touchdowns off of 4 catches.
Tomorrow, the Iron take on the Mahoney Valley Thunder in Youngstown, Ohio for their 1st road game.  Even though the Thunder forced 6 turnovers in their victory last Friday against the Albany Firebirds, look for much of the mistakes to be handled by the Iron offense in order to catch the season’s first victory.