The ice of the Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial was transformed into a 50-yard turf playing field Friday night as Rochester welcomed its newest professional sports team ? the Brigade.
The newest team in Arena Football League II provided a spectacular show as it bounced the Roanoke Steam 49-31.
Pre-game festivities covered the streets outside of Blue Cross Arena, complete with live bands, tail-gaters and thousands of excited fans.
The game opened up with an impressive ceremony, with strobe lights, fireworks, music and a pregame show with the Sirens.
The Sirens are a group of 32 cheerleaders who position themselves at either end of the arena and throughout the game visit the fans around the building.
Although the Brigade played most of the game with precision on both sides of the football, the same can?t be said for the Sirens.
One of their first stunts of the season concluded with dropping a cheerleader off the hands of her teammates, followed by a sigh of relief from the crowd of 8,513 fans as she got up with a smile.
After the players and coaches were announced and the whistle was blown, the Steam helped bring in a new era in Rochester sports.
However, the new era was brought in with a delay of game penalty and a less-than-impressive first drive by the Brigade. The pre-game jitters were gone and the adrenaline was starting to take over.
The Steam got on the board first by intercepting Rochester quarterback Mike Carubba?s first pass of the season and eventually scoring a touchdown on the following drive.
It took Rochester almost a full quarter to tie the game up but it did it on a run by wide-receiver Courtlan Green with 36 seconds left to go in the first quarter.
Green ended up being the game?s Most Valuable Player by rushing for two touchdowns and having twenty-four yards receiving, along with three solo tackles on the defensive side of the ball.
The game?s ?Iron-man? award went to fullback and outside linebacker Danny Katoa.On the offensive side of the ball, he registered 29 yards rushing with two touchdowns. He also recorded two tackles and one fumble recovery while on defense.
After a poor performance against the Lafayette Roughnecks in week-one the Brigade evened up its record at 1-1. Its next game is this Saturday in Greensboro to take on the Prowlers.
The next home game for the Brigade will be Friday, May 4 at 7:30 p.m. against the Carolina Rhinos.
