Inglewood Shuts Arizona out in 2nd on their way to a 26-12 Victory in GDFL National Playoffs

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (August 21, 2022) -- In a game that had so many pre-game twist, the Inglewood Blackhawks put together a great second half as they defeated the Arizona Roadrunners 26-12 in the Gridiron Pro Developmental Football League playoffs.

With head coach Tony Reid not feeling well at kickoff and QB Jimmy Do a little bit under the weather as well, Inglewood started off slow but managed to keep Arizona at bey for the first half of the game.
After a successful opening drive down to the Roadrunners 20 yard line, Do threw an interception that was returned for 80 yards giving the RR a 6-0 lead. Do (10 of 20 for 118 yards 2 TD's 3 INT's/7 carries 47 yards 1 TD) came back and led Inglewood downfield to tie the score at 6-6 after a touchdown reception to D.J. Carter (3 rec. 55 yards 1 TD).

After forcing a RR turnover, Inglewood pounded the Arizona defense on the ground behind the legs of RB Trae Bickham. Bickham ran the ball 24 times for 145 yards and 1 TD which earned him the ProStarsInc Offensive Player of the Game. "Trae played lights out tonight and Arizona had no answer for him" stated Head Coach Tony Reid. Both Tony Parham and Devin Gage stepped in at running back and did an amazing job as well to keep Arizona off-balance.

WR Justin Sydney chipped in with 3 receptions and a touchdown to close out the offensive scoring for Inglewood. Offensive coach Nic Stephens stated,  "a lot of the offensive dominance came from our offensive line as the we bullied their defense and rushed for 238 yards on the day". 

Defensively it was a great collective effort as many players chipped in with great all around play. Despite missing 16 players with 8 of them being defensive players, the Blackhawks were able to rely on their, "Next Man Up" mentality. 

ATH Devin Gage had a huge game collecting 4 tackles and 2 interceptions for 74 return yards earning him the ProStarsInc Defensive Player of the Week DE Jeff Bradley (4 tackles 1 sack 1 TFL), LB (Devin Jones (4 tackles 1 FF), DB Cory Butler Byrd (4 tackles 1 PBU) and DE Rony Barrow (4 tackles 3 TFL, 3 sacks, 1 FR) all dominated from their respective positions to keep Arizona off the boards in the second half. "They only scored on our defense once so I'm happy with what my guys accomplished today", stated Defensive Coordinator Tim Lane.

One of the plays of the day was a 50 interception return by former Fresno State Bulldog Charles Ealy who intercepted an Arizona pass and pitched it to DB Derrick Smith Jr. who return it to the one yard line as the first quarter ended. Inglewood had 5 sacks and 3 interceptions on Arizona QB Kordell Provchy and three blocked kicks the contributed to the victory.

With the win, Inglewood will host Washington this upcoming Saturday night at Jackie Robinson Stadium. Game details and information will be posted as it becomes available. The Blackhawks are 1 game away from reaching the GDFL National Championship game for the second time in a row.