Storm Take First Win In Rout Of Dallas
For the second week in a row, the Dallas Vigilantes will be head back to Texas licking their turnover wounds after yet another loss
. The Vigilantes turned the ball over three times to Tampa Bay who in turn took those extra possessions and turned them in to six points to take the 54-41 win.
"We've got to stick together right now as a team," Dallas head coach Rich Ingold said. "We've got a good core of players here that really want to win. We're just hurting ourselves right now with mistakes."
Tampa Bay got their first win as a new AFL franchise in front of 14,122 fans at the St. Pete Times Forum.
"This is a football city, man," Storm coach Tim Marcum said to the St. Petersburg Times. "What a crowd, my goodness. The fans were there, and they were so loud. What a fantastic atmosphere."
Dallas kick returner Kenny Henderson started the scoring off early, taking the opening kickoff back for a touchdown, giving the Vigilantes a 7-0 lead only seconds into the game. After Tampa Bay responded with a Cleannord Saintil three yard touchdown run, Dallas came right back down the field with a eight yard touchdown pass to Derek Lee by backup quarterback Colin Drafts, his first career TD pass.
Both teams continued to trade touchdowns back-and-forth until 50 seconds remained in the first half.
Up by one, Dallas had a fourth-and-goal at the Storm one yard-line. The Vigilantes pitched the ball to fullback Josh White, but he stumbled, allowing the Storm defense to stop him short of the goal line. Tampa Bay then drove right back down the field to score on an eight yard pass from Brett Dietz to Tyrone Timmons, putting the Storm up 27-21 at the half.
"That stand was a big momentum changer for them," Ingold said. "Instead of us going up two scores they end up taking the lead and then get the ball out of the half. It was just one of those plays where we couldn't get a break."
On the opening possession of the second half, Dallas was able to stop Tampa Bay on a fourth-and-four and turned the turnover-on-downs into a touchdown to regain a 28-27 lead.
After another Storm touchdown, Drafts and Lee appeared to have connected for a long touchdown strike, but Lee was stripped from behind as he crossed the goal-line, giving the ball back to the Storm, who scored a few plays later on another Timmons touchdown.
Dallas responded yet again with another Drafts to Lee connection to close the deficit to 40-35, but that would be as close as they would come to the Storm.
Dietz threw another touchdown pass to put the Storm up 47-35 midway in the fourth. On the Vigilantes' next possession, Drafts threw his first interception as defensive back James McCoy picked off his pass in the end zone, sealing the game with 4:46 left in the match.
From there, the teams each scored one meaningless touchdown a piece.
Drafts went 21-of-30 in his first AFL game with 212 yards, four touchdowns, one interception, 27 rushing yards and a score on the ground. Henderson led the Vigilantes in receiving with eight receptions, 61 yards and two scores. Lee followed closely with six receptions, 84 yards and two touchdowns.
Dietz finished 30-of-40 for 320 yards and six touchdowns. Tyrone Timmons had a monster game with 11 catches, 108 yards and four touchdowns. Hank Edwards finished with seven receptions, 100 yards and one touchdown.
With the win, Tampa Bay moves to 1-1. The Storm won their first home game in two years because of the cancellation of the 2009 season. The Storm will go on the road to face Milwaukee (2-0) next Saturday at 7:00 PM CDT. Dallas falls again to 0-2 after the loss. They have their second bye of the season next week as the recoup and prepare to host the Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz (0-1) in their home opener.
by: Arena Pigskin
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