ON THE WHEELERS: Depth, versatility key big victory (2024)

There were a number of eye-opening moments Saturday evening for the Quad City Steamwheelers — including the final score.

The Wheelers were stopped on offense only once (a Judd Erickson interception in his second series in relief of the injured Mike Irwin), stopped the visiting Massachusetts Pirates three times (two interceptions and at the end of the game) and came away with a much-needed 54-43 Indoor Football League victory at Vibrant Arena at The Mark.

“It’s a big statement win,” said QC defensive lineman KeShaun Moore. “I don’t think it’s too much of a surprise to us, because we know what we have in our room. We just have to execute and tonight we did that.”

It could be a win that helps the young Quad City squad turn the corner as it looked like a totally different team than the mistake-laden club that was off to a 1-2 start and had lost two straight.

But QC coach Cory Ross is keeping things in perspective.

“It doesn’t say anything about us, to be honest with you. It’s a win,” he said. “We are in next-game attitude and next-game mentality already.

“We’ve got Tulsa coming in Sunday and we have to execute and build upon what we just did. We can’t get complacent. If we start thinking about how good we are right now and how good we can be, we’ll mess around and start slipping.”

Still, there were valuable lessons learned.

“It’s a confidence-builder and it was the type of win we needed so they can see how special this can be.”

The victory not only snapped QC’s short losing streak, but ended Mass’s undefeated season after four wins and tightened the Eastern Conference race.

How the Wheelers did it, though, was nothing short of stunning.

Because of injuries to defensive players, there were a number of new looks on that side of the ball.

Wide receiver Raheem Harvey jumped over to the secondary and played well in a starting role. Running back Edward Vander, who rushed 10 times for 70 yards and three touchdowns, was called on to play linebacker. And newcomer Bikembe Kearney started after just three practices and was in on 12 total tackles — six solos — and brought energy to the defense.

DJ Morgan, the only linebacker dressed for the game, played with his right hand taped into a club to protect a broken bone and DB Sherrod Paige left the game after hurting his right knee on kickoff coverage on the final play of the first quarter after the hosts had taken a 14-0 lead.

Harvey made some standout plays, including an interception that led to a QC score and he also returned a blocked extra-point kick for a two-point safety.

“Raheem Harvey hasn’t played defense in this league at all and he went out there and did a helluva job,” said Ross after his club moved to 2-2. “He was a starting wide receiver for us; now he may be a DB who helps us out on offense when we need it.

“Obviously, we want all of our guys that are injured to come back, but it’s next man up,” said Ross.

Vander recorded two solo tackles, including one TFL for a loss of 6 yards.

Vander said that he hadn’t played defense since his sophom*ore season of high school in California and had no idea he was going to be thrown in on that side of the ball on Saturday.

“I love playing defense; I wish they would let me do it some more,” said Vander, who now has nine touchdowns on the young season. “I’m better on offense, but let me tell you something, on defense, I’m a ball hawk. When I was playing safety in high school they always used to put me back there and say go steal the ball. I think I had five or six interceptions.”

Of Vander, Ross said “He’s special. He is just an athlete out there.”

Contributions from up and down the roster keyed the victory.

“We had guys that played out of position, but they went in and did the job,” said Moore, who finished with four solo tackles among his six stops. “… No one got rattled by anything; everyone has that motto ‘next man up’ and that’s how our players were tonight. When somebody went down, another guy stepped up. It was good to see that. As teammates, we rallied around the guys who played out of position, but did their jobs and we’re grateful for it.”