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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Long after a 53-19 shellacking by the Tulsa Talons 2 weeks ago, the Iron followed up their bye week with a victory on the road against the Albany Firebirds.  In an offensive death match, both teams went back and forth on the score to finish the game 66-63.  Since both teams went down almost each drive and scored, it was in the 2nd quarter after the Firebirds scored twice that the Iron returned a kickoff, then recorded a safety and scored another touchdown with 55 seconds left to go in the half.  The 3rd quarter was much of a stalemate with the Iron scoring late on a touchdown pass from Todd Hammel to Bryan Pray.  The 4th quarter went back to the up tempo offense with each team exchanging blows to the scoreboard down to the final minute.  With 54 seconds left, Firebirds quarterback Stephen Wasil connected with Alvin Jackson with a 13 yard touchdown pass, leaving little time for the Iron to get back onto the board.  A field goal wouldn’t help the Iron, they were in need of a touchdown.  Exactly 14 seconds later, the Iron’s prayers were answered with a 34 yard touchdown from Hammel to Pray once again to put the Iron ahead by 2, with the extra point converted by Alex Walls.  On 4th – 18, Firebirds QB Wasil threw an incomplete pass to cap off the final drive of the game.
As an offense, the Iron finished with 275 yards on 41 plays with no interceptions and only 2 lost fumbles on 5.  Hammel threw for 23 out of 32, with 7 tds and 273 yards.  Wide receiver Antoine Burns had the most catches on the night with 9 for 87 yards and 2 touchdowns, but Pray was the offensive threat for the game.  With on 8 catches, he finished with 143 yards and 5 touchdowns, to be easily player of the game.  On the defenses side of the ball, the Iron gave up 290 total yards of offense, but recorded the only interception of the game by Laron Ragsdale.  Brandon Payne had a temendous day on defense finishing off the night with 10 solo tackles.
With the win, the Iron are 3-6 with 7 games to go in a long season.  On Friday, June 5th, the Iron take on the Mohaning Valley Thunder at the Bradley Center starting at 7:05pm.

The Green Bay was the 1st on the board with a field goal with 9:17 into the game, but less than a minute later the Milwaukee Iron put up 6 with a 21 yard run by Tyler Donovan. Milwaukee scored 2 more times before the half, but the Blizzard scored 5 more times putting the score at 21 – 34.
It was as rough 2nd half for the Iron as the Blizzard powned the scoreboard tacking on another 22 points.  The Iron’s offense just couldn’t get it going in the 3rd quarter due to a blocked field goal and an interception to start off the 4th.
Donovan and the Iron offense finished with 40 total yards rushing and only 99 yards through the air.  The defensive rush from the Blizzard was heavy on Donovan all night, taking him to the turf a total of 7 times.  Offensively, the Iron only managed 1 td through the air and 2 on the ground.  The Blizzard went 6-6 when scoring in the red zone and 5-6 for field goals, which didn’t help any. Donovan finished 11-26 with 4interceptions…a few passes were wildly thrown to fans in the 1st 5 rows for keepsakes.  Donovan did lead the team in rushing, 5 times for 26 yards.  Scott Burnoski and Ricardo Lenhard both caught the ball 4 times for 43 and 28 yards.  Mark Nicolet went 15-34 on completions ending with 175 yards and 2 touchdowns for the Blizzard.  On the other side of the ball, Lavar Stepter lead the Iron on defense with 6 tackles and 1 pass break up.
Next week, the Iron are on the road against the Peoria Pirates who are only 1 loss ahead of the Iron in the Midwest standings.

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Last Friday, the Milwaukee Iron(1-3) were defeated 50-34 at home against the Peoria Pirates(1-2) leaving then still in search of their first home victory.  Both Peoria quarterbacks, Luke Drone and Kent Smith went 16 for 28, finishing with 189 yards through the air.  Smith recorded 3 td’s, while Drone threw for 2.  3 of the recieving touchdowns went to Brian Albrooks, who also finished with 6 receptions for 67 yards.  Wide Reciever Dante Ridgeway finished with 8 catches for 123 yards and 1 touchdown for the Pirates.
Shane Adler went 18 for 37 for 257 yards for the Iron, with also 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.  In the air, the Iron finished with 257 yards, 9 of the balls went to Scott Burnoski for 124 yards, followed by Antoine Burns who had 4 catches for 49 yards.  On paper, the Iron finished with better stats at the end of the game, however the scoreless 1st quarter put the Iron in a 13 point deficet with only 3 quarters to play.
Currently the Iron are last in the Midwest Division of the American Conference.  Offensively, the Iron are ranked 20th, averaging 44.8 points per game and defensively they’re averaging 54.5 points scored by opponents per game.     For Total Defense, the Iron are amazingly ranked number 1 by averaging 195.2 yards/game.  The Iron are currently ranked 10th in 1st downs and 14th in 3rd down conversions.  An achilles heel of the Iron are the penalties commited with 43 for 331 yards, putting them at 23rd in the league.
Individually, Tyre Young is ranked 5th in the league for rushing by averaging 22 yards per game. Tyler Donovan is ranked 22 with 12 yards per game.  Levar Stepter is tied for #2 in the league with 3 interceptions in only playing 3 games.
This Saturday, the Iron hit the road to take on the Kentucky Horsemen who are currently 1-2 in the South Division.  On paper both teams are evenly matched so expect this to be a very competitive game.

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.