Mahoning Valley Thunder Coach Mike Hold thinks his team stands a better chance in week 5 against The Tulsa Talons than they did in week 3.  Tulsa blasted The Thunder in week 3, 79-35, in Tulsa. Coach Hold said, ” We feel more comfortable heading into this game because we saw them two weeks ago.  Now we have a good idea on what they like to do and how we match up, at the same time, they have a feel for our play calling and personnel.  They showed us that they’re an extremely physical team and their offense can beat you in a number of ways.  If we can limit the mistakes we made in week 3 we can be successful.”

In order for The Thunder to have a chance, the defense has to play better.  In the first four weeks of the season the defense has let every team score more points than the previous weeks opponent.  Tulsa (3-1) took it to Mahoning Valley in week 3, beating the Thunder 79-35.  Tulsa Coach Mitch Allner has a lifetime 29-7 record and has never lost to The Thunder.

I feel that QB Blake Powers will have a bigger week.  Last week was Powers first start and he played pretty good.  Powers threw for three scores and ran in another two.  The University of Indiana product was making his first start against Wilkes-Barre.  With this start look for Powers to play with more confidence and remain productive.

Powers favorite target is Quorey Payne who had 8 catches for 173 yards last week.  Payne is putting up great numbers and even returned a kickoff 50 yards to finish the Wilkes-Barre game with 351 all-purpose yards, a Mahoning Valley Thunder franchise record.  Payne has 435 receiving yards through the first four games and I am sure he will be hungry to keep putting numbers up.

The Talons are loaded with home grown talent boasting a roster with ten Oklahoma players.  Tulsa beat Iowa 58-31 last week.  Talons QB Justin Allgood was 32-49 for 148 yards with 8 TD against Iowa last week.  The Central Oklahoma product does a good job distributing the ball to Jermaine Landrum and Zac Edwards.

Mahoning Valley will need to step up their game to pull off this upset.  If the defense can play a little better and the offense can exceed production they have a good chance of winning.

Kickoff is set for 7:30 at The Chevy Center.