The Trenton Steel, of the Southern Indoor Football League (SIFL), are currently in the middle of a three game winning streak. After starting off cold and loosing the first three games of their inaugural season, they now have a record of 3-3. They are in second place in the Northeast Divison, four games behind The Erie Explosion with six games remaining in the regular season.
All three games The Steel lost were by three points each, so it’s fitting that their first win would also come by three points. Trenton kicker, Craig Camay, hit a 33 yard field goal as time expired to put Trenton up 65-62 on April 9, versus the previously undefeated Erie Explosion.
“I tried not to think to much about it, I know from experience the last thing you want to do is actually think about the kick, you just keep your head down, and follow through. I did just that, and it went right through the middle,” said Camay in an interview with the VOICE.
Six days later, on April 15, the Steel were gearing up for a home game vs. the Carolina Speed. In the first half the score remained tight but the Steel had a seven point lead going into halftime. Solid play came from SIFL Co-Defensive Player of the Week (April 13-20) Keon Lattimore, who recorded two interceptions and returned both for touchdowns.
The Steel were able to bust the game wide open in the second half and outscore the Speed 45-8, resulting in a final score of 86-42 with Trenton on top. Lattimore, who was a running back at Maryland University, said this about adapting to the defensive side of the field after this break out game for him: “I’m not estranged to the defense at all. You know I got one of the best defensive coaches of all time in my brother that you can possible have, and the rest is just adapting.” His brother is two time NFL defensive player of the year, Ray Lewis.
In the third game of the winning streak, the Steel were hosted by the Harrisburg Stampede at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex in front of 743 fans. It was a low scoring first half. With only 24 seconds left in the half, Harrisburg running back Collis Martin ran the ball up the middle for Erie’s second touchdown bringing the score to 23-15 in favor of Trenton going into halftime.
The second half saw a bit more action as Trenton quarterback and Hamilton native E.J Nemeth (#15), lead the offense to victory with four touchdown passes while rushing for another in the second half. Nemeth finished the game with 10 touchdowns altogether, and the game ended with a Trenton win of 61-45.
“We started off .500, you know for the first part of the season, we started off slow with a young team,” said Steel Head Coach Rod Miller in an interview with the VOICE.
“Now I think we are progressing, now we’re gonna take the second part of the season and keep getting better, and improve our record,” Miller said.
