By Journal Times staff | Posted: Sunday, August 12, 2007 12:00 am
Journal Times staff
The temperatures hovered in the mid-80s before the start of the Racine Raiders-Kane County Eagles' football game Saturday night at Batavia, Ill.
It only got hotter after that.
In a hotly-contested encounter between the two best teams in the North American Football League, Kane County escaped with an 11-9 victory at Mooseheart Stadium.
The victory kept Kane County undefeated in four NAFL games this season. The Raiders fell to 3-2 in NAFL games.
"That was a good game,'' Raiders coach Jordan Kopac said. "I thought we had control of game. You hate to lose by two points, but it was a good game.''
The game, which was close from start to finish, was punctuated by several controversial calls. One of the biggest came late in the first half.
With the Raiders trailing 11-3, they appeared to have scored a touchdown when quarterback Dan Novotny connected with wide receiver Sam D'Alie.
But the touchdown was nullified when Raiders wide receiver Dorian Palmer was called for not lining up on the line of scrimmage.
But Kopac refused to blame the officials for his team's inability to pull out a victory.
"I thought, all in all, they did OK,'' Kopac said of the officials. "It was a fast game, a quick game, a tough game.''
The Raiders certainly came to play and seemed motivated to prove that the game wouldn't be over by halftime - as Kane County coach Keith Hac had predicted last week.
Thanks to a 30-yard field goal by Joel DaPra, the Raiders took a 3-0 lead with 8:48 remaining in the first half.
But Kane County, which has defeated the Raiders 19 times in the last 22 games, tied the game on a 29-field goal by Bobby Miller with 2:09 left in the quarter.
The Eagles then went ahead for good when safety Chris Rowe tackled Novotny for a safety with 58 seconds left in the period.
The Eagles scored again at 10:20 of the second quarter on a fake punt as Donald Woodard caught a 41-yard touchdown pass from Mike Morrison.
Kane County held an
11-3 lead at halftime before the Raiders cut the difference to 11-9 with 7:33 left in the third quarter.
That's when Joe Grunewald stripped the ball loose from a Kane County running back and Raiders' linebacker Jamie Isome recovered it and ran 17 yards. Novotny's pass on a two-point extra-point attempt was incomplete.
The Raiders continued to put the pressure on the Eagles. In fact, they had two opportunities to score in the final period.
After an Isome interception, the Raiders moved to Kane County's 46-yard line.
The Raiders had a golden chance to get in field-goal position on that drive, but wide receiver Ryan Brugioni couldn't hold on to a Novotny pass near the 25-yard line.