Minnesota miracle is completeBy Spring Football League News Wire
Posted January 05, 2011
The Minnesota Freeze (18-1) defeated the Orlando Rockets (12-7) by a score of 30-9 Sunday night during the Spring Football League's 11th SFL Grand Finale at the Horseshoe in Columbus, Ohio. Wide receiver Miles Austin, who earned his first All-SFL honor this season, took home the 2010 Grand Finale MVP Award with a stellar performance.
The Freeze capped off arguably the most dominant season in SFL history, losing only one game during the regular season while cruising through the playoffs and a championship victory that appeared over after the first quarter of play. Their only loss came to the division rival San Antonio Marshalls in a week 6 match up of the two undefeated squads.
JP Losman and Miles Austin connected from 58-yards out for the game's first points on their opening drive with 12:16. They'd connect again from 37-yards out at the end of the first quarter to make the game 14-0. Things really got out of control when Adam "Pacman" Jones would returning a punt back 77-yards to open up the second quarter of play, giving the Freeze a decisive 21-0 lead.
The Rockets would show a little bit of life at the end of the third quarter after Ricky Ray was able to complete a 38-yard scoring pass to The Rockets would show a little bit of life at the end of the third quarter after Ricky Ray was able to complete a 38-yard scoring pass to Brandon Marshall. However, most hopes of a dramatic comeback were dashed when Ray was injured on a bootleg during a fail 2 point conversion attempt. Darian Durant would replace Ray during the fourth quarter, proving to be less than effective.
The Rockets, who also won the 2002 Eastern Conference Championship before losing to San Antonio in the league's third championship game, now face several personnel and salary cap issues after an inspirational, but injury plagued year. The Freeze, a 2004 expansion franchise with only one other playoff appearance in 2008, on the other hand have brought a long awaited football championship to the city of Minneapolis. Minnesota and their owner/GM Patrick Tanis cap off one of the successful seasons in SFL history.
