Ponder Returns to the Thunder

The Oklahoma Thunder added another weapon to an already full cupboard last week when Willy Ponder made his return to the team. Ponder had spent the off season, as well as the early part of this year working out for NFL teams. Trying to return to an NFL roster is the goal for the former N.Y. Giant and St. Louis Ram. Until then the Thunder are glad to have him back."We kept Willie on the roster just in  case things didn`t work out and I`m glad we did. He was a contributor on our championship team last year and I`m anxious to see what he can do with a full season" said head coach Bruce Madden. Ponder led the NFL in kickoff return yards in 2004 with an average of 26.9 yards a return.

Thunder win 78-6 but with a heavy heart

The Oklahoma Thunder throttled the Arkansas Warcats on Saturday night in Fayettville, AR. The victory came at a heavy price though, as Emeka Nnaka suffered a spinal chord injury in the second quarter. Nnaka suffered the  injury  making a tackle on a second quarter kickoff.  "That was tough. You never want a guy to go down like that, with that kind of injury" said head coach Bruce Madden. "It was very emotional for our guys afterwords." The game was relatively well in hand at the time of the injury at 28-0. The game remained that way at the half. In the third quarter however, the Thunder exploded for 43 points in a 7 minute 30 second span to start the second half.  "You don't have a scenario where you score 43 points in half a quarter very often" said Madden. The game got sloppy after that however with emotions running high. Three Thunder players were ejected in a three minute span in the third quarter. Madden was  not happy with the way the game was handled by officials. "What you had there was the problem with officials at this level. These guys had no idea what rules we were even playing by." Madden elaborated "There were three times tonight where the officiating crew tried to make high school calls and that's unacceptable." Madden's problem with officials didn't end there. "I'll just say  that we had three guys ejected and they had none, and believe me more than one of their guys were throwing punches. We had 13 penalties they had 3. We had five personal fouls they had one. In one series in the second quarter the Warcats actually got a fifth down. Something needs to be done,  Nobody is out here to watch the officials. They  lost control of this game and started to take things personally  and you can't do that." At the end of the day the  coaches thoughts were with number 88 Emeka Nnaka. "I just hate to see something like that happen to  such a good  kid. He's a great guy and we all love him. If you don't like Emeka  then you have a problem with yourself." The Thunder will play a Blue White scrimmage Saturday night at Hap Dunlap field in Skiatook, with all  proceeds going to the Emeka Nnaka rehabilitation fund. You can also donate to Emeka's Fund by clicking on the Donate Button below. Thank You!

Wow!!! Thunder Destroy Kaos 79-0 in Supposed Showdown

     In what was billed as the game of the year in the Central division the Oklahoma Thunder crushed the Kansas Kaos. Kansas came in confident and undefeated, expecting to upset the defending league champs. They left not knowing what to think about what had just happened. The Thunder offense led by Rico Watkins rolled up 577 total yards. Watkins accounted for 486 of those yards and seven touchdowns for the  second straight game. " We really  expected a bigger challenge from these guys." said head coach Bruce Madden.  "There was a lot of hype coming in about how we hadn't played anyone and this team was supposed to be our big hurdle. That really got everybody amped up." The teams were  talking trash as early as pregame warm-ups and you could feel the tension  at the kick-off. The Kaos recieved the opening  kick and went three and out. The Thunder took their punt and went 70 yards in two plays.  That was about the time the game stopped being competitive. The Thunder defense was stellar again Saturday despite not having it's best player, WFL MVP Joey Crawford. Jeremy Armstead filled in nicely and the defense got it's fourth shutout  in five  games.  Every one got into the act with four  interceptions by three different players.  "I was really proud of the way guys stepped up when Joey went down." said defensive coordinator Daniel Cornelison. " Jeremy Armstead really stepped in and made a lot of plays and thats what needs to happen when you have a guy go down." The Thunder go on the road next week to Elkins, AR. to take on the Arkansas Warcats.   

Thunder-65 Extreme-7 In WFL Opener for Both Teams

The Thunder train rolled thrrough Lincoln, Nebraska Saturday night and left behind a ho-hum 65-7 beatdown. Fueled by the excitement of the  league opener and some  spirited smack talk before the game the Thunder played probably their most complete game of the season. "I was really happy with our level of play and our intensity tonight" said head coach Bruce Madden.The game got a little added boost of intensity when  there was some pregame smack talk "Their QB had said on their  website that they had the personel and the game plan to come out here and shock the league. He should  say that but you know we used that for motivation all night" said the coach. "Then there was a  little pregame chatter  at the coin toss, I believe they  just welcomed Joey Crawford to Nebraska. Well he accepted the welcome and showed why he is the defending WFL MVP". Crawford dominated the game deffensively with thirteen tackles, three for  losses. The highlight stop of the night coming on a goal line stand in the third quarter. With first and goal on the Thunder six inch line the Extreme attempted a QB sneak. On the snap  Crawford leaped over the center, stopping QB Chris Chmelka for a loss. From there the Thunder held turning the Extreme over on downs. The defense did however give up it's first TD of the year in the second quarter when Kurtis Dawson and Anthony Cobbs collided and allowed Logan Riesing to  catch a deep pass and score.  The offense racked up  680 total yards led by the eerily efficient Rico Watkins, who passed for  a new team and league record 490 yards and an absurd 7 touch down's.      

Mercifully the  WFL Schedule  is here

The Oklahoma Thunder concluded their lop-sided non-league schedule saturday night with an ugly 85-0 romp over the Arkansas Bonecrushers. The end of the  non-league schedule can't come soon enough for head coach Bruce Madden " I'm just glad we didn't  get anyone seriously hurt in any of these games. We had three embarassing  blowouts in a row there, and all you can hope for is that  everyone stays healthy." Madden hints at a change in scheduling procedure in the future " We have to do something different with our non-league scheduling. All of these teams we brought in here were obviously over matched. We expected the Missouri team to have trouble, being a first year team, but the Gunners won their league last year, and this team was recommended to me as a quality opponnent by someone I trust. The bottom line is we have to do something different." Madden says it's not as easy as just scheduling good teams " In this business nobody wants to travel out of league, including us. I think after this year, we have to take another look at how we schedule. I would rather  travel every week,  or not play any non-league games at all than play these kinds of games." The Thunder defense carried the day  saturday night  setting a new team record with 16 sacks in the  game. Jeremy Gray and Jonathan Jameson each had five sacks to tie the team record for sacks in a game. Gray recorded all of his in the first quarter before retiring with a minor knee injury. In a statistical anomole the Thunder offense was held to only 209 yards and only  ran 25 total plays. Due  to the defensive dominance the  Thunder offense started each of their posessions on the  Bonecrusher side of the field, with six posessions inside the  Bonecrusher 20.

Thunder  to Be Televised In  2009!!!! 

Don't miss the Thunder Game broadcasts on KWHB Tulsa and Cox cable channel 7 in 2009. In addition to the internet broacast brought to you by  UFTA all Thunder home games will be televized starting with the May 2 game Vs. the Southwest Missouri Venom. "This is a huge step in our development as a legitimate sports franchise  in the Tulsa market."said Thunder owner James Ashford. " We are proud to partner with a station like KWHB, which really  shares the same values we do as an orgaization" explained Ashford. Head coach Bruce Madden went further,"I think this serves notice to the other teams in our league and in any other leagues, that if your gonna compete at the same level we are, then you better step your game up" Madden explains "Otherwise we,  along with the top teams in our league, are going to leave you behind

The Thunder are excited to announce that all of our games will be web cast live. If you can't make it to the games you can still listen on the web. All you have to do is go HERE and click on the UTFA sports news and hit the "ON AIR" button.