MUSKEGON – The West Michigan Ironmen packed the stands on Saturday, and impressed their big throng of fans by completing a dominating sweep of their 2026 regular season home schedule.
The Ironmen made it five wins in five home games with a 70-12 victory over the Central New York Blue Devils in front of a sellout crowd of more than 3,400 fans at Muskegon’s Trinity Health Arena.
They will complete the regular season with a road game at Cedar Rapids before competing for the American Indoor Football League championship in the postseason.
[1]“We don’t care who’s in front of us,” said Ironmen head coach Terry Mitchell. “It’s the same expectation, the same standard, no matter who you play. We’re always going to have enough up-tempo practices, and practice will always be efficient. It’s you, and it’s the product.”
A lot of Ironmen had a hand in the latest victory, but Josh Fusco was a major star, snagging three of the team’s four first-half interceptions, including a game-opening pick-six that put the Blue Devils back on their heels before all the fans had found their seats..
“They told me be ready, and as soon as I saw the pass go up in the air, I grabbed it,” Fusco said. “The feeling was surreal, scoring our first bite. You can’t match that type of thing.”
[2]Fusco’s second pick came in the second quarter in the end zone, halting a Blue Devil scoring drive. He capped off his interception hat trick at the very end of the first half, giving his team great field position at the visitors’ 18-yard line.
“The team, the crowd, the ownership, everybody, they work as one unit,” Fusco said about the Ironmen. “Being able to get everybody riled up like that, you can’t beat it.”
“Josh is a student of the game,” Coach Mitchell said. “He’s just an all-around smart defensive football player. We have a lot of those on defense, and they compete with each other. So it makes it a lot easier to coach guys out there.”
[3]Offensive lineman Ricky Wiggins also had a very big game, but not in the way he’s used to. He was given two carries at running back and captured his moment, breaking touchdowns runs of 30 and 12 yards in the second half, and also running in a two-point conversion.
“That was fun,” said Wiggins. “I was surprised when I got the ball, but all the trust in them. I appreciate the O-line and everyone blocking, I couldn’t do that without them.”
[4]Veteran quarterback Alex Carder was also in prime shape once again, throwing a 20-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Bruce in the first quarter, and the two of them connected twice more in the third quarter, with Bruce catching scoring passes of 26 and 30 yards.
Bruce also returned a kickoff the full length of the field – 50 yards – for another score in the fourth quarter.
The run game was a big factor in the second quarter. DavVeon Taylor scored a pair of 4-yard rushing touchdowns on back-to-back drives for the Ironmen, before Carder capped off the first half scoring with a one-yard rushing score just before halftime.
[5]The game was nearly a shutout, which is hard to do in arena football. but the visitors finally got on the scoreboard late in the contest.
With 10 minutes left in the game, the Blue Devils heaved a shot to the end zone that was caught off a tipped pass, making it 54-6.
In the closing 17 seconds, Central New York put up one final pass that was caught deep in the corner of the end zone for a last-second TD.
SCORING SUMMARY
FIRST QUARTER
WM – Josh Fusco 30 interception return (kick good) – 7-0 WM
WM – Alex Carder 20 pass to Tyler Bruce (kick failed) – 13-0 WM
SECOND QUARTER
WM – DavVeon Taylor 4 run (kick failed) – 19-0 WM
WM – DavVeon Taylor 4 run (kick good) – 26-0 WM
WM – Carder 1 run (kick good) – 33-0 WM
THIRD QUARTER
WM – Carder 30 pass to Bruce (kick failed) – 39-0 WM
WM – Carder 26 pass to Bruce (kick good) – 46-0 WM
WM – Safety – 48-0 WM
WM – Ricky Wiggins 30 run (kick failed) – 54-0 WM
FOURTH QUARTER
CNY – Joseph Pierce Jr. pass to Ladaryus Cook (conversion failed) – 54-6 WM
WM – Bruce 50 kickoff return (conversion successful) – 62-6 WM
WM – Wiggins 12 run (conversion successful) – 70-6 WM
CNY – Pierce 10 pass to Diquan Brannon (kick failed) – 70-12 WM