Thunder Press Release - June 25, 2008   >> VIEW IT HERE <<

Thunder Win Second Straight World Bowl

     The Oklahoma Thunder completed their second straight undefeated season by out manning the Dallas Diesel 43-12 in World Bowl III. On an unseasonably cool night in Tulsa, Ok, the Thunder used a smothering defense to shut down the Diesel's punishing running game. The Diesel came in with the WFL's most potent running attack but were unable to get going against the Thunder defense. Joey crawford led the way with 12 tackles including 5 for loss holding the Diesel to 22 yards on 15 tries. with the Diesel running game shut down they went to the air. The results were disastrous as the Thunder secondary intercepted the Diesel QB Trey Fields six times including 2 by Rodney Brown, who returned one for a td.

     the Thunder offense was stifled early by penaltys and mental errors. "We made a lot  of stupid plays in the game all together" said head coach Bruce Madden "We had first and 35 twice tonight and that is unacceptable." we woke up just in time but it shouldn't have taken that long". Rico Watkins validated his MVP award by throwing for 277 yards and 3tds.

     Despite the slow start Madden was happy with the win "It's hard to be upset with a championshi[p. I'm happy for these players. They deserve this. They did the work".

     Makes you wonder what could they possibly do to improve in year three? Stay tuned  and find out.

Thunder Break Century Mark In Record Breaking Playoff Win

     The Oklahoma Thunder continued their record breaking second season. The defending WFL champions broke their own national playoff record for points in a game saturday by routing the Austin Gamebreakers 101-6. The Thunder were led by Rico Watkins who broke his own team and WFL record with 582 yards passing and 10tds. The WFL MVP had a short night as Marcus London mopped up in the second half or he might have thrown for more. Head coach Bruce Madden was impressed with his QB's play " I'm pretty hard on Rico usually, but there isn't much I can complain about tonight. He played better tonight than has in the whole two years he has been with us." said the coach. "He threw three incompletions the whole first half. He threw for 450 yds and 8 tds in one half." Over all the QB was 18-23 for 582 yds and 10 tds. The yards and touchdowns are Oklahoma Thunder records and believed to be league records. It wasn't all passing and offense however. The Thunder defense was flawless save for one busted coverage on a double pass in the third quarter. Joey Crawford was in his usual form as the WFL Defensive Player of the Year. The Gamebreakers used three QBs but none were effective. The running game shined in the second half as well. With the game out of hand and the clock running Clint Thomas ran for 117 of his game high 141 yards in the second half. The Thunder ran for 258 yards over all 228 in the second half as they only threw four passes in the second half and none in the fourth quarter. The Thunder advance to the World Bowl for the  second year in a row. They will take on the Dallas Diesel in Tulsa, Ok saturday August 29. The game will be held at La Fortune stadium with a  7:05 kickoff.      

Jr. Thunder Win Innaugural WYFL Championship

     It would appear that winning championships is an organization wide habit. The Oklahoma Thunder 11-12 year old youth football team won the first ever WYFL championship Saturday in Plano, Tx. The jr. Thunder fought through 100 degree tempratures to win two  games, against teams from Arkansas and Texas,  in a round robin playoff to claim the title. Blaylin Crawford scored on passes of 58 and 43 yards to lead the  way in the championship game. Kyle McAnelly and Crawford hooked up for three touchdown passes total on the day. Gavin Pilgrim and Zane Harvel  led the Thunder defense, as they harassed the Texas and Arkansas quarterbacks all day.  

     The Thunder easily dispatched the Arkansas team 32-7 in the first game, highlighted by McAnelly hitting crawford between two Arkansas defenders for a 63 yard td at the end of the  first half.  After an Arkansas penalty the Thunder had the ball on their own 47 with no time left in the first half.  Awarded another play due to the defensive penalty, the Thunder took to the air. McAnelly took a shotgun snap and hit Crawford between the Arkansas corner and  saftey. Crawford brought the ball in with one hand and  outran  the defense to the  endzone. That play pretty much salted the game away with the Thunder leading 26-0 at the half.

      The championship game was a different animal all together.  The Thunder, playing their second game of the day, showed some signs of fatigue  against a fresh Texas squad. Despite the heat and fatigue the Thunder held a 6-0 lead at the half. The game remained  that way until late in the third quarter. The Texas A-11 offense hit a big run late in the third to tie the game  at 6-6. The thunder snuffed out the conversion attempt. Things looked bleak as the  Thunder immediately turned the ball over on downs. The Texas offense looked on the verge of seizing the game as they drove immediately inside the Thunder 25 yard line. Anthony Kozart turned in the clutch defesive play of the game as he intercepted the Texas QB to preserve the  6-6 tie. On the first posesion of the fourth quarter McAnelly  hit Crawford on a seam route and crawford took it the  distance to put the Thunder back on top12-6. Texas  would not go away. The Texas offense hit another big play two plays later to tie  the game back up at 12-12. After the  kickoff the Thunder looked exhausted throwing two straight incomplete passes and losing two yards on a QB bootleg. On fourth down Crawford took a hand off  13 yards for a first down. On the next play McAnelly hit Crawford on a six yard curl. After bringing in the pass Crawford spun out of the tackle of  the Texas cornerback and raced 43 yards for the game winning score. The Texas offense got the ball with 2:40 left in the game. Pilgrim and Harvil took turns sacking the Texas QB following an incomplete pass, leaving the  Teexas offense with fourth down and a mile. On fourth down the Texas QB had the ball snapped over his head into the endzone. He was tackled there giving the Thunder a safety. The Thunder took the free kick and knelt on the  ball to finish off the Championship.

     Oklahoma Thunder head coach Bruce Madden also coached the 11-12 year old Thunder, and was very proud. " I couldn't be happier for these kids. What they did today is show everybody what is right about this sport. They fought through adversity(playing twice in a day), they would not give in and accept losing, and they never lost focus. They played almost error free all day through extreme heat and two different football Thunder Celebrate Nnakas Return With  Warcat Beatdown

The 2009 WFL season continued the march  to the playoffs saturday night with another Oklahoma Thunder blowout. That wasn't  the most important part of the night however. Emeka  Nnaka  made his first appearance at a Thunder game since fracturing  his L6 vertabrate in the first matchup with the Warcats. It was a welcome site for Thunder players and fans  alike. Players from both teams were glad to see the Thunder defensive lineman outside of a hospital for the first time. Nnaka was surrounded by players fans and Thunder cheerleaders all night. On the feils it was business as usual, sort of. The Thunder continued  to  rely on their running game as they had the previous two weeks. " Ive been telling everybody that we were going to start working on our runnning game  and they just laugh" said Thunder coach Bruce madden. "We Have passed the ball so well this year that when we weren't running it that well we would just quit trying" explained Madden. " I  know we have the best running backs in the league. i know we have the best line in the  league. If that be the case, we should  be able to run the  ball  better  that we have." Brandon Ishem continued to lead the way since returning from a hamstring injury that has sidelined him for over half  the season. Ishem ran for a team record 146 yards on only nine carries. The second year back  from Norhteastern State University has provided a break away threat that the running game has been missing all season. The Thunder offensive line has come  on as well " We have some key guys back from injury that has allowed us to put guys in better spots. It's paying off huge right now. Those guys are playing lights out. They have an edge right now  that  we haven't had here in two years" explained Madden.  That group: Corey Curtis, Mike Smith,  Mike Vaughn, Wes Grayson, Gary Joice, Preston Mingh, and  Theron Williams have  allowed the Thunder to amass 554 rushing yards in the last two weeks. With Ishems speed combined with Clint Thomas' power in the  backfield teams can no longer sit back in zones and expect only the pass. If it's possible, this offense has become more dangerous. The Thunder defense had another ho-hum night without giving up a touchdown. That marks  the 14th game in two years that a team has failed to find the endzone against the stingiest defense in minor league football. Joey Crawford and Calvin Wickoff led  the way with a combined 9 tackles for loss.

Thunder Make history in North American Bowl

The Oklahoma Thunder continued to make minor league football history saturday night at Hap Dunlap Field in Skiatook, Ok. With a packed house looking on the Thunder defeated ITESM CEM, a university from Mexico City, Mexico. The Rams had never been defeated by a college or minor league program from the U.S.. The Rams are so used to routing U.S. teams in fact, that head coach Enrique Tovar commented that "I don't want to make a prediction because when we come to the U.S. we are always disappointed". That comment stuck with Thunder players and coaches alike. " They were a class organization all the way. It was nice to play a team that is competant. Out of respect for their entire program all I will say is, we didn't want to disappoint them." said coach Bruce Madden.  With the win the Thunder accomplish something no minor league program has ever been able to. " It's very significant. I tell our guys all the time that they are the future of this business. Games like this really validate what we are doing here." said Madden. " It's important for our sport and our league that we play well in these types of games. That  program has crushed minor league and college teams in the states for years, including the Dallas Diesel, who are in our league and the USA Eagles". Madden explained. " We wanted to show the country that what we do here isn't the same old thing. We are putting together a true minor league program here. This is what everybody should be doing. If every team we played was of the same caliber as those guys, our sport would be taken more seriously." The Thunder are on the road this week in Bonner Springs, Kansas to play the Kansas Kaos. 

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.

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 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.