Woody Cavenaugh

There was electricity in the air of Cushwa stadium in Thomasville Saturday night as the Carolina Phoenix in their first home game of the season improved their IWFL record to 1 and 1 with a 13 - 6 win over the Cape Fear Thunder.

Thunder won the coin toss and the Phoenix kicked off. On the second play of the game the Phoenix forced a fumble and takes possession. Speaking of Thunder and electricity in the air, Thomasville brought some of their own and the game was postponed as the skies fell and the lightning crashed. It ended as quickly as it began and 20 minutes later play resumed.

Phoenix got close to scoring but a pair of penalties pushed them back, they go for a pass and the Thunder intercepted and took the ball back. The Phoenix forced a second fumble and took possession again. Phoenix had trouble getting their passing game together and were forced to punt to the Thunder. Phoenix forced a third fumble and make a nice run out of it. The first quarter ended scoreless.

With 6:06 in the second in a huge play the Phoenix scored an interception. In a see-saw battle the Phoenix lost big yardage but gained it all back and put six on the scoreboard with a pass and run for 40 yards with 3:41 left on the clock. Not to be outdone the Thunder forced a fumble of their own on the Phoenix. The Thunder scooped it up and ran for a game tying touchdown of their own with only 42 second left in the first half.

Coming back from the half, a foiled Phoenix punt (say that three times fast) set the Thunder up for a touchdown but the Phoenix had other plans, they forced a fumble but couldn't get it back, and the Thunder just couldn't push past the Phoenix defense. Later in the third a Thunder blitz puts the Phoenix quarter back down, she left the field on her own power but sat the next several plays out. Later on a Phoenix punt, the Thunder fumbled and the Phoenix recovered in a seat clearing play. The stands on both sides went wild, and they stayed wild when the Phoenix completed a long bomb gaining critical yardage. The next Phoenix pass was incomplete and a Thunder member limped off of the field with an injury. A second pair of Phoenix penalties lost critical yardage and a Thunder interception threatened to take the Phoenix momentum. Though the battle fought back and forth neither team could make any headway and the 3rd quarter ended with a tie, 6-6.

Coming into the forth, the Thunder rallied with some good rushing yards bringing them back into scoring range but they couldn't manage to push passed the Phoenix defense to score. 5:07 on the clock Phoenix way back on their own 10 yard line. A pass interference call against the Thunder gained the Phoenix 10 yards. On the next play the quarterback snuck 40 yards upfield, turned around and on the next play gained another 15 yards. 3:34 on the clock Phoenix was on the 20 and in good scoring distance. They do just that with a beautiful pass strait into the end zone for a touchdown, extra point was good and the score was then Phoenix 13, Thunder 6.

Thunder feeling the pressure pushed back with a long hard drive way deep into scoring territory, but a critical fumble was recovered by the fired up Phoenix defense with only 34 seconds remaining on the clock. Game ends Phoenix 13, Thunder 6, and the fog of the Thomasville night rolled in.

Many thanks to Thomasville rescue squad and police department for being on hand, and to the city of Thomasville for renting the field to the Phoenix. Thomasville is a terrific town and a great place to watch football. Come see for yourself next week (May 19th) 7pm, same place when the Phoenix host the Detroit Predators. Tickets are only $5.00 but worth so much more.