The Bossier-Shreveport BattleWings hosted the Dallas Vigilantes at the CenturyTel Center in a pre-season game Sunday evening at the CenturyTel Center before a smaller than expected crowd. The weather played a large role in the size of the crowd, for it snowed most of the day. But the faithful in attendance saw the new-look BattleWings against a new and formidable division opponent for the 2010 season. The Wings will see the Vigilantes twice in regular season. Even though the BattleWings fell behind on a couple of mistakes early, the Wings were able to draw within a score in the 4^th quarter before the Vigilantes pulled away to win by 21, scoring quickly late after a failed onside kick by BattleWings kicker Art Carmody.

 

“This was a scrimmage in front of a crowd,” said Jon Norris. “Neither team looked at this as a game, nor did either coach want to show the other very much, because we play twice in regular season.” The BattleWings Head Coach continued, “We agreed that quarterbacks were off limits to hits. We certainly didn’t want to take the chance of losing a signal caller.”

 

The Vigilantes opened with a quick score on the opening kickoff. Mishandled snaps on the Wings first couple of series saw the Wings trail early. “What fans need to understand is we have been in training camp just five days. We only installed our special teams game plan via a walk through on Saturday,” said Norris. “Our kicker, Art Carmody, had not even run a kickoff play with the team until he actually kicked in the game. And the Dallas team is primarily made-up of players from the old AFL Desperado team who have played together for years.” 

 

When asked after the game by local news media what he thought about the Wings performance in the 65-44 loss, Norris seemed very encouraged. “We had 35 guys in the game that were all fighting for 21 jobs. It’s hard to see everything good or bad live. We’ll look at the film on Monday to see exactly how we performed.” Norris continued, “We made some really good plays on both sides of the ball. Even though our timing is a little off in some spots on offense, athletically we are really strong. It will take some time to fine tune the little things necessary for us as we start our season. But, remember, we have two weeks to get ready for Alabama in our opener April 3^rd.”

 

The Sunday event was promoted jointly by KSLA and The Radio Group. Half of the ticket sales for the game will be donated to the Red Cross Haitian Relief Fund. Wings owner Dan Newman said, “We were excited for Channel Twelve and The Radio Group to step up and join us to raise money for those so devastated in Haiti. The Red Cross for years has been right in the middle of all types of natural disasters to provide for the needy. We’re glad that we can be a small part of that this year.”

 

The BattleWings open regular season with a 5:00 P.M. kickoff Saturday, April 3^rd against the Alabama Vipers at the CenturyTel Center in Bossier City. Season and single game tickets are available by calling 318-746-8755 or at www.ticketmaster.com.