Tempers Flare After CIFL Championship

by Dan Cash

What seemed like a Kalamazoo Xplosion team primed for their first CIFL Championship ended in a 41-37 last second loss to the Saginaw Sting Sunday.

It appeared the Xplosion had wrapped up the CIFL Championship when a 41-yard-field goal by Brad Selent gave the Xplosion a 3-point lead with under a minute to play. That all changed however when John Radney ran for a 1-yard-touchdown with 26 seconds to play. From there Randy Hutchison was intercepted before falling to the turf in defeat.

What happened after the game however…appeared to involve what can only be referred to as disgruntled Xplosion coaches and players. One Xplosion player flipped the ceremonial CIFL table over before another teammate shouted this at Xplosion owner Mike Johnson…

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Speaking in reference to an apparently unsatisfactory pay rate. Outside Wings Stadium after the game Owner Mike Johnson said it’s a difficult situation he was put in…

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In the locker-room it was Little Jon Flowers displeased with his offensive carries this season. Flowers says a pass happy offensive game plan came back to bite them…

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Flowers says he came home to Kalamazoo to play football in front of his parents…not sit the bench…and now…he’s considering retirement…

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The last second loss and player actions after the game overshadowed an otherwise successful season during which the Xplosion went 13-2, David Gator broke his own CIFL record for interceptions and the Xplosion won the Great Lakes Conference for the first time. One final note of the season…I asked Little Jon Flowers if maybe this loss wasn’t the only one bothering him…

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Kalamazoo’s Finest All-Stars lost a charity softball game to the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety last Friday at Homer Stryker Field.