Catzz claw Monsters in home opener

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    By CARLON SCOTT

    The Utah Catzz were victorious Saturday night in their first regular season Professional Indoor Football League game ever. The Catzz defeated the Minnesota Monsters 32-30 before a home crowd of 3,219.

    It was a low scoring game by PIFL norms. The Catzz defensive secondary had an outstanding game, holding Minnesota quarterbacks to an ugly 11 of 28 and intercepting the ball in a couple key situations.

    With about 12 minutes left in the game and the Catzz up 32-30, Minnesota was on the Catzz one-yard line. But on a pass thrown across the middle, Catzz defensive back Korey Alexander dropped into middle coverage and was in perfect position to pick off Monsters quarterback Stacy Jamison.

    After the Catzz offense was unable to score on the next drive, Minnesota drove to the Catzz 20 until Harold Ragin picked of another Jamison pass with 3:22 left in the game.

    Catzz Coach Gordon Hudson was pleased with the performance of his defense. “Our defense was outstanding. Its an offensive game, but I’ll tell you what, if you’ve got a bunch of defensive players like I do, you can keep people under wraps if you can keep turning the ball over like we did,” Hudson said.

    The Catzz offense stalled a little early and then got on track late in the second quarter. The Catzz had turnover problems, fumbling the ball twice in the game and throwing one interception. But Catzz quarterback Paul Shoemaker wasn’t too worried about the miscues.

    “We only practice two times a week and there is only so much you can do in those two practices,” Shoemaker said.

    Shoemaker had a decent night. He was 19 of 35 for 223 yards and threw for one touchdown and one interception. He also ran the ball for a touchdown and a successful two-point conversion.

    Hudson showed off the role Henry Bloomfield will have on the Catzz offense again in the game Saturday. Bloomfield was used twice in this game in goaline situations, and scored touchdowns on both carries. The first was from 2 yards out, and the second was on a one-yard grind where Bloomfield overpowered two Minnesota linemen to bulldoze his way into the end zone.

    After the game, Bloomfield talked about his cameo play as a goaline running back.

    “I love it, I like it a lot, it’s more body lean then anything else, its just a short distance,” said Bloomfield. Running back isn’t a new concept for Bloomfield, because he played the position in his high school days.

    On offense the Catzz used Junior Tagaloa to replace the injured Tyler Anderson at wide receiver. Tagaloa filled in nicely, making several difficult catches during the game. Tagaloa is playing linebacker with the Catzz, but had played wide receiver in his college career at Cal-Berkeley.

    “It’s my natural position, I played receiver in college and once I got bigger, I got switched over to the other side of the ball,” Tagaloa said.

    Although it was it the sharpest performance, Hudson was satisfied with the performance of his team.

    “We won, I am proud of the guys. For practicing once or twice a week, its a heck of job,” Hudson said.

    The Catzz next play Saturday at 7 p.m. at home against the Texas Bullets.

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