Wichita Wild wins playoff opener

PARK CITY — The violent impact of Clinton Solomon's head against the Hartman Arena turf shot his helmet off and sent it skipping across the field toward the sideline.

Solomon quickly brought himself to his feet, his daring feat of a catch behind him, and hurled the football angrily at his helmet.

It was about time.

"It was just a burst of emotion, you could even call it an outburst if you want," Solomon said. "We had let them back in the game at that point and I felt as if... if the ball is in the air then it's on me to go up and make a play. That's just what I do."

Solomon's 20-yard grab came on third-and-14 with the Wichita Wild trailing 36-34 in the third quarter and deep in its own territory. It helped shake the Wild out of its doldrums and sparked the run that propelled Wichita to a 61-48 win over the Bloomington Extreme in the first round of the Indoor Football League playoffs on Saturday night in front of 2,413 fans.

"Our kids are strong, you can count on them in the second half," Wild coach Ken Matous said. "I could see when they stole that momentum back and started to roll."

Wichita quarterback Dixie Wooten followed Solomon's catch with a 7-yard touchdown run three plays later to give Wichita the lead for good as the Wild reeled off three straight touchdowns after trading leads with Bloomington six times before that.

Wichita's defense got in on the act, too, with Donta Moore's interception of Extreme quarterback Luke Drone in the end zone and the Wild leading just 41-36.

"It feels like we all got it together at the same time," Moore said. "And we feel like when we can put it all together, then this team can put it on anybody."

Wooten finished with 191 passing yards and two touchdowns to go with three rushing touchdowns. Solomon had 78 receiving yards and two touchdowns and running back Darius Fudge had 138 yards of offense — 86 rushing, 52 receiving — and three touchdowns.

With the victory, the Wild advanced past the first round of the playoffs for the second straight year. Wichita will find out the identity of its next opponent Monday night, depending on the outcome of the Rochester-Richmond game. Should Rochester win, it will come to Wichita Friday night. If Richmond wins, Wichita will travel to Sioux Falls next weekend, with a day to be determined.

Bloomington scored quickly to start and finish the first half, with Rocky Hinds and Johnny Gray connecting for a touchdown on the Extreme's first drive on the way to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter. Bloomington then scored two touchdowns in the final 1:10 of the half. Backup quarterback Luke Drone passed to John Cooper for a 30-yard score, and a botched Wichita snap on a field goal deep in its own territory led to a 5-yard touchdown run from Drone with 9 seconds to play.

The final two scores rallied the Extreme from a 27-16 deficit following Darius Fudge's 18-yard touchdown run with 1:25 to play to a 29-27 lead at halftime.

Quite a turnaround.

"We were right back in it," Drone said. "Hats off to Wichita because they made the plays they needed to make in the second half and you see the end result."

The botched snap was one of a handful of mistakes that dogged the Wild in the first half — two Wichita touchdowns were called back on penalties.

All was well after the huge second half, however.

"I've definitely got a goal for this team," Matous said. "And that's to win the next game."

Bloomington (9-6) 10 19 7 12 — 48 Wichita (10-5) 7 20 14 20 — 61

B—Gray 6 pass from Hinds (Christofilakos kick)

B—Christofilakos 27 FG

W—Wooten 3 run (Pohlman kick)

W—Wooten 4 run (kick failed)

B—Christofilakos 21 FG

W—Solomon 30 pass from Wooten (Pohlman kick)

B—Christofilakos 20 FG

W—Fudge 18 run (Pohlman kick)

B—Cooper 30 pass from Drone (kick failed)

B—Drone 5 run (Christofilakos kick)

W—Fudge 3 run (Pohlman kick)

B—Gray 21 pass from Drone (Christofilakos kick)

W—Wooten 7 run (Pohlman kick)

W—Solomon 3 pass from Wooten (Pohlman kick)

W—Wooten 2 run (kick failed)

B—Cooper 3 pass from Drone (pass failed)

B—Cooper 3 pass from Drone (pass failed)

W—Fudge 4 run (Pohlman kick)

Individual statistics

Rushing — Bloomington, Drone 8-14, Payton 6-4, hinds 2-1. Wichita, Fudge 18-86, Wooten 10-34, Walker 1-4.

Passing — Bloomington, Drone 18-26-196-1, Hinds 3-8-22-0. Wichita, Wooten 15-22-191-1.

Receiving — Bloomington, Cooper 10-110, Gray 7-77, Payton 2-16, Sullivan 1-8. Wichita, Fudge 6-52, Solomon 4-78, Chinn 3-22, Givens 2-39.

Attendance — 2,413.

This story was originally published June 27, 2010 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Wichita Wild wins playoff opener."