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06/24/2005: "Central Minnesota suffers its 1st loss of season in league title game"

Central Minnesota suffers its 1st loss of season in league title game By Ben Birnell bbirnell@stcloudtimes.com After beating up on most of the teams in the Mid-America Football League by an average of nearly 20 points since mid-June, the No. 5-ranked Central Minnesota Thunderbirds found out what it was like to lose a game.
Capitalizing on two interceptions of former St. Thomas quarterback Chris Esterley and numerous other penalties and miscues, the visiting Twin Cities Titans gained redemption with a 28-24 win over the Thunderbirds Sunday at Husky Stadium in the MFL championship game.
The Titans (9-2) will decide in the next week which semi-pro playoff system they will enter.
Twin Cities is headed to a national playoff because of its ability to convert on mistakes by the Thunderbirds.
"We knew if we eliminated the turnovers we had from the last time we played them (a 41-32 loss), we would have a chance," said Titans quarterback Alex Neist, a former Arena Football League II player. "We knew if that happened, we'd have a chance to move the ball and win."
Coupled with their offensive miscues was the fact that the Thunderbirds'
defense was left on its own for most of the second half.
"We made too many mistakes to win," said Esterley, whose team finished 10-1. "Our defense is good, but when they're out on the field that long, it is tough. But, the mistakes we had are what killed us."
The Thunderbirds still had a chance to win the game in the final few minutes.
Central Minnesota led 24-21 with 9:59 left. But a penalty on the Thunderbirds' defense negated a Neist interception, giving the Titans the ball back on their own 29-yard line.
The Titans' drive stalled, but Thunderbirds kick returner Randy Lee fumbled the ensuing punt. Twin Cities recovered the fumble on the Central Minnesota 44.
"Penalties killed us, our execution killed us and turnovers really killed us," Thunderbirds head coach Chad Baldwin said. "We couldn't do what we wanted to when we had the ball.
"I think the big pieces of the puzzle were things like the botched punt.
That's huge because we still had momentum with our offense."
After Twin Cities recovered Lee's fumble, Neist hit Wes Hill in the middle of the end zone with a 10-yard touchdown pass five plays later to give the Titans a 28-24 lead with 4:12 remaining.
The Thunderbirds' offense stalled on its next drive, and the Titans promptly did the same.
But on fourth-and-10 from the Thunderbirds 40, Heiser called a fake punt and caught the Thunderbirds off-guard. Running back Anthony Amundson gained 10 yards and the first down on the fake, enabling the Titans to run out the clock.
"Part of that (play call) is from me telling the guys before the game that we were going to let everything hang out because we had nothing to lose," said Heiser, whose team is in its first year of play. "If our team doesn't convert that fake punt, I'm the worst coach in the league."
Instead, the Titans will be known as the team that was able to bring down the Thunderbirds.