The coaching staff of the Kent Predators decided before their game against the Tri-Cities Fever to let quarterback Charles McCullum run and throw the ball as much as possible.
The strategy paid off as McCullum threw four touchdown passes and ran for three scores to lead the Predators to their first professional Indoor Football League victory.
Kent beat the Tri-Cities Fever 55-49 on Saturday night in Kennewick for the first-year franchise’s first win. The Predators lost their first three games.
“It’s always nice to get that first one,” Kent coach William McCarthy said in a phone interview Monday. “We were able to control the clock and move the ball.”
McCullum completed 10 of 13 passes for 164 yards and rushed 30 times for 124 yards.
“Part of the game plan going in was to keep the ball in the hands of our playmakers and he’s one of those,” McCarthy said about McCullum, who played quarterback at Stillman College in Alabama. “Charles played a very good game. We had a little different look on offense and it turned out to be a positive thing.”
The Fever couldn’t contain McCullum.
“They’re a pretty decent team,” said Fever defensive back Montavis Pitts in an interview with the Tri-City Herald. “That quarterback of theirs is an athlete. He’s got some good moves. Every time we tried to blitz, he avoided it. We’d have him for a 3-yard loss, then he did some awesome stretching with his arms and turn it into a 3-yard gain.”
The victory moved Kent out of last place in the five-team Pacific North Division and ahead of Tri-Cities (0-3). Billings and Fairbanks are tied for first place with 3-1 records followed by the Alaska Wild at 2-2.
McCullum threw back-to-back touchdown passes to Travis Poole and Carlo Heard to break a 42-42 tie in the second half. He has thrown 18 touchdown passes this season in four games.
Tri-Cities scored to cut the lead to 55-49 with 1 minute, 57 seconds left in the game. But the Predators ran out the clock to notch their first victory.
“Tri-Cities is a very talented team and not far from a first victory themselves,” McCarthy said.
The game was tied at 35 at halftime. Kent’s Dre’ Mail Hardin returned a missed field goal for a touchdown in the first half.
Receiver Eric Taylor had five catches for 102 yards and two touchdowns for the Predators. Lineman Armand Wallace had four sacks.
The Predators return to action at 7:30 p.m. April 9 against the Alaska Wild at the ShoWare Center. The Wild beat the Predators 48-39 on March 8 in Anchorage.
“I think this will be a good thing and get us going,” McCarthy said about the rematch with Alaska after getting the first victory. “The players can see the benefits of the system and that things do work.”
The indoor game features eight-on-eight players on a 50-yard field surrounded with 4-foot high dasher boards that mark the sidelines.
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