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His 4 TDs and a late defensive stand lead Storm to 64-53 win in preseason finale.
By FRANK PASTOR
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 13, 2002
ORLANDO -- If John Kaleo didn't have the starting quarterback spot locked up, he put a stranglehold on it Friday in the Storm's final preseason game.
The nine-year Arena Football League veteran passed for four touchdowns and earned Most Valuable Player in Tampa Bay's 64-53 win over Orlando at the TD Waterhouse Centre.
"I've just got to play like my back's against the wall and just keep it going the way I'm going," Kaleo said.
Tampa Bay signed former Buccaneers backup Scott Milanovich before the season and recently took Shane Stafford off the exempt list. But Kaleo, who started 12 regular-season games last season, got the majority of the work in the final tuneup before the April 20 regular-season opener against Toronto.
Playing the entire first half, Kaleo was 12-for-21 for 158 yards. His one interception came on a tipped pass.
"It's John's job to lose, there's no question," Storm coach Tim Marcum said. "I liked what I saw."
Kaleo might have found a go-to receiver in Carlos Johnson. The league's top pass catcher two years ago, Johnson caught four for a team-high 89 yards and a score. He had eight catches for 172 yards and three touchdowns in two preseason games. Kaleo also threw scores to Jason Kaiser, Basil Proctor, Sir Mawn Wilson and Lawrence Samuels.
"It seems that Carlos and I are starting to hook up," Kaleo said. "Lawrence and I have always hooked up. I'd like to see Sir Mawn and Greg Spann get in the mix of things. That'd help out."
Predators quarterback Jay Gruden was equally effective against his former team, completing 16 of 22 passes for five touchdowns in 31/2 quarters.
Milanovich was 4-for-9 for 59 yards and 2 scores. Stafford was 3-for-6 for 59 yards. John Fitzgerald did not attempt a pass in mop-up duty.
The Storm defense allowed six second-half points. Rodney Brown returned a kickoff 57 yards for Orlando's other second-half touchdown.
Tampa Bay put pressure on Orlando's quarterbacks but was again hampered by a secondary that allowed 52 points and 313 passing yards last week to expansion Dallas.
The Storm also struggled with its kick coverage, as the Predators returned nine for 151 yards.
One bright spot was defensive lineman Carl Simpson, who made two big plays on a stop early in the fourth quarter.
With the Storm clinging to a 54-47 lead and the Predators facing third and 1 from the Tampa Bay 2, Simpson stood up Orlando fullback Tommy Dorsey for no gain. After two false-start penalties pushed the ball back to the 11, Simpson sacked Gruden for a 6-yard loss.
"I'm just playing football, man," Simpson said.
Kaleo and Gruden threw four touchdowns apiece as the teams scored on 11 of their 13 first-half possessions and went into the locker room tied at 41.
Tampa Bay led 33-27 after Deryl Lane's 2-yard touchdown with 53 seconds left in the half, but Orlando scored twice in a 26-second span to take a 41-33 lead. But Tampa Bay wasn't done, as Kaleo found Samuels over the middle for a 21-yard touchdown with three seconds to play. Basil Proctor bulled in for the tying two-point conversion run.