By RICHIE HALL
WESTFIELD – The beginning of the Indianapolis AlleyCats’ game with Pittsburgh on Saturday featured an offensive milestone, while the ending of the game saw a big defensive play that clinched a victory for the ‘Cats.
What goes around comes around, and the AlleyCats returned to their sideline with a 28-26 win over the Thunderbirds at Grand Park Events Center. As a result, Indianapolis improved to 5-3 and stayed in third place in the AUDL Central Division, which is significant because the top three teams in each division qualify for the league playoffs.
First things first: The AlleyCats scored the game’s first goal just 32 seconds into the contest. Cameron Brock caught a pass from Rick Gross, and that gave Brock has 800th score for his AUDL career.
“I think it just means I’ve been playing a long time,” said Brock. “I’ve been on the offensive line since the first season, so I’ve played a lot of games. The thing I’m more zoned in on, honestly, this season is just my completion percentage. It’s great when you’re catching goals and all that, and that gets your attention. But the biggest thing I’m concerned about is just making sure that we keep the disc whenever I catch it, so whether I’m catching it in the end zone and the possession is over, or catching it somewhere else.”
Brock was doing quite a bit of catching the disc in the end zone, as he scored four of the AlleyCats’ first six goals. Indy led 6-3 with 3:25 left in the first quarter after Brock grabbed a pass from Levi Jacobs.
Pittsburgh made a run after that, getting within 7-5 by the end of the quarter, then opening the second period with three straight scores to take an 8-7 lead. After that, neither team led by more than two goals for the remainder of the game. The Thunderbirds played intense defense for the entire contest, while the AlleyCats were steady with their defense as well.
“Hats off to Pittsburgh,” said Drumright. “They had a strategy coming in. They’ve changed their game, they’ve gotten better every game. They were ready. They had a great game plan against our offense.”
After the Thunderbirds’ initial outburst, the two teams traded goals for a few minutes, so Pittsburgh stayed ahead 12-11 at the 4:26 mark. That’s when the ‘Cats were finally able to get consecutive scores: Carter Rae threw a 25-yard pass to Lucas Coniaris to tie the game, then Indy caused a throwaway to get the disc back, and the end result was a 24-yard throw from Carter Rae to Jacobs.
The score was tied 14-14 at halftime. Each team scored seven goals in the third period, although both sides would go on three-score binges at one point during the quarter. Pittsburgh went first, with three straight scores to get up 18-16.
The teams again traded goals, so the Thunderbirds led 19-17 with 5:02 left in the period. The AlleyCats then got three straight scores of their own. Gross threw to Ben Landry for a goal, then after Indy caused another throwaway, Landry picked up another goal on a 53-yard throw from Jacobs. But the ‘Cats weren’t done: Jacob Fella made a block, then caught a scoring pass from Cody Curran. Indy now led 20-19.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the score was tied 21-21. Pittsburgh led 24-23 with 6:16 left, then the AlleyCats scored twice to take a 25-24 lead. Gross caught the tying goal from Jacobs, then Mason Zetsch’s block set up a score; Zetsch would catch a 58-yard throw from Xavier Payne.
The Thunderbirds scored again to tie the game with 3:56 left, but Indy went ahead for good on its next score. The familiar duo of Gross and Brock struck again, with Gross making a 57-yard throw to Brock for his eighth goal of the game.
Xavier Payne made three blocks, including one late in the fourth quarter that set up an important score for the AlleyCats to put them up by two goals. (Photo provided by Michael Gross / 144Photos.com)
Seconds later, Payne struck again, making a big deflection to get the disc back in the hands of the ‘Cats. It only took less than a minute for Payne’s play to turn into a score: Carter Hawkins threw to Adrian Golay, and the ‘Cats had a two-goal lead. Pittsburgh scored one more time, but Indy sealed the game when Landry threw a scoring pass to Gross with 14 seconds left.
“I think Ben Landry came in and filled in a role and started to help execute that,” said Drumright. “It took a full-team effort on the offensive side just to be able to control the disc, then value possessions when we got them.”
Payne finished the game with three blocks. He said everything came down to how well the team continued “to apply constant pressure on the other team. And then some of the O-line guys looked at me when I was going out and said, ‘Hey, we need you to do something.’ And I said ‘Okay.’ Got to make sure I can make plays for our teammates.”
Brock totaled eight goals for the AlleyCats, while Jacobs scored four. Landry and Coniaris both added three goals. Rae and Jacobs both led the assist with five, followed by Payne and Gross with four each. Coniaris had three assists. Seth Gudeman had two blocks.
The AlleyCats go back on the road next Saturday, playing at Chicago.