Saturday, April 14, 2007

Corpus Christi Spoil Ruff Riders Debut 70-54

(Katy, Texas-April 14, 2007) The Corpus Christi Hammerheads (1-0) scored early and often and spoiled the Katy Ruff Riders (0-1) inaugural home game by invading the Merrell Center for a 70-54 victory on Saturday afternoon in Katy.

In what was a typical high-flying, Intense Football League contest, Hammerheads quarterback Wes Cooper threw for 197 yards and five touchdowns and the Ruff Riders found it difficult to stop Corpus Christi running back Fred Wallace. The bruising 300-pound runner racked up 117 yards on 21 carries and scored four times to lead the Hammerheads offense.

Corpus Christi took a 21-7 lead midway through the first quarter, and never trailed as they found the end zone on all nine of their first half possessions. The Ruff Riders contributed to their demise by turning the ball over three times, including a pass that was intercepted by Corpus Christi’s Carl Greenwood on the very first offensive possession of the game. Corpus Christi led 61-41 at the half, but both sides stepped up their defense in the second half, as the scoring slowed down.

“I thought that for our first real game action, we looked pretty good at times,” said Ruff Riders Head Coach Donald Hollas. “We struggled a bit in the first half on defense, because we tried to do a little bit too much. But we toned that down and held them pretty well in the second half. But it’s tough to play at any level of football, when you turn the ball over and give the other team a short field. The best sign I saw was that our team fought back, didn’t quit, and made some adjustments we needed to make. I was very pleased with that.”

Katy quarterback Albert Higgs completed 16 of 29 attempts for 191 yards and four touchdowns and wideout Darrick Wallace found the end zone four times as well for the Ruff Riders, including a pair of kickoff returns for scores. Sammy Knight added two TD’s for the Ruff Riders, while Se’e Poumele and Carlos Alsup each posted TD runs.

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