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02/14/2005: "Rough Riders Fall Short"

By John Huggenvik / Winona Daily News


One too many mistakes — that was the demise of the River Cities Rough Riders amateur football team.

The Rough Riders closed their season with a 32-27 loss to the Minneapolis Lumberjacks in the first round of the Mid-America Football League playoffs at Maxwell Field at Midwest Wireless Stadium Saturday.

"(Minneapolis) is a tough team," River Cities coach Paul Anderson said. "We came in here with a lot of pride and played out very best,

but they have too many good athletes."

The Rough Riders sent the Lumberjacks into halftime with something to think about thanks to a 22-yard touchdown strike from Tory Lockington to Carlos Clayburn

and an interception-return for a touchdown from defensive linemen Willie Stephen from 32 yards out.

"I can't say enough about these guys," Anderson said . "We came up a little short in the end there but they played their hearts out on every single play."

All that emotion turned into a big loss of yards for both teams, both being assessed plenty of penalty yards and the Rough Riders losing one player to an ejection.

The Lumberjacks committed seven penalties for 70 yards, inducing a statement from defensive coordinator John Dewey to his players about saving the violence for after the game.

The Lumberjacks (8-1) came out with a pair of receiving touchdowns by Edwin Reed in the third quarter to make the score 26-13 and give them a two-score cushion again after taking the early 12-0 lead thanks to a rushing touchdown by both Robbie Johnson and Jose Cortez.

Lockington answered with a 35-yard pass to Aaron Woelfel to put the River Cities back within six on the first play of the third quarter, but Cortez broke the plane for the second time to put Minneapolis back in front by 30-12.

Lockington tossed his third TD-strike of the game in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter, hitting Deejay Spencer from eight yards out while a Lumberjacks player hung from his waist.

Lockington finished 13 for 30 for 149 yards, with four interceptions.

"Tory might have made a couple mistakes, and some of those might have been the play calling," Anderson said. "But, those touchdown throws were all him."

The Rough Riders got one last shot in the final minutes of the game after forcing a punt from Minneapolis, but Lockington's fourth interception came with 1:13 on the clock and that was the end.