Arena

Tampa Bay loses lead, game, chance to clinch

CRUSH 49, STORM 45: Second-half collapse ends eight-game win streak.

By FRANK PASTOR
© St. Petersburg Times
published April 21, 2003

TAMPA -- Storm players greeted fans, mugged for photos and signed autographs while the Lightning-Capitals game played on the overhead scoreboard Sunday at the St. Pete Times Forum.

At first glance, the postgame autograph session with what remained of an announced crowd of 9,404 had the appearance of a playoff party.

The Colorado Crush, however, ruined the festivities.

With a playoff berth within reach, the Storm squandered a 25-point halftime lead to the Arena Football League's second-worst team and lost 49-45 on Damian Harrell's 5-yard touchdown reception with two seconds remaining.

"We were just (bad) in the second half," Storm quarterback John Kaleo said. "We lost to a team we could have beaten and should have beaten."

The loss, Tampa Bay's first at home this season, snapped its league-high eight-game winning streak and cost it a chance to become the first team to clinch a postseason berth.

It also ended a stretch of six games in which Tampa Bay (9-3) held opponents to fewer than 40 points.

Though the Storm has to wait at least another week to extend its record 12-year playoff streak, players and coaches maintained the loss did nothing to deter them from their goal of gaining the top seed and homefield advantage throughout the playoffs.

"They didn't care about (when they clinch)," coach Tim Marcum said. "That's not important. What's important to us is the No. 1 seed. That's all there is to it."

The Storm appeared to have the playoffs in hand after touchdowns by Basil Proctor and David Saunders and Omarr Smith's 38-yard interception return for a touchdown gave Tampa Bay a 21-0, first-quarter lead.

Kaleo's 12-yard pass to Freddie Solomon with 16 seconds left in the second quarter extended the lead to 35-10.

But bad throws, poor route running by Tampa Bay receivers and a pass rush that failed to show for the second half allowed Colorado to get back in the game.

With Crush president and CEO John Elway watching from the bench, quarterback John Dutton reprised Elway's role as "Captain Comeback," leading the Crush (2-10) to four fourth-quarter scores, including a three-play, 48-yard drive in the final 22 seconds.

After a false-start penalty moved the ball back to the Colorado 1, Dutton found Harrell for 44 yards to the Tampa Bay 5 with eight seconds remaining.

Dutton went right back to Harrell, a player the Storm tried desperately to sign in the offseason. He showed why by making a one-handed catch over Smith on a fade pass into the right corner of the end zone.

"He's 6-3, I'm 5-9," Smith said. "The easiest play is to go up top."

The Storm got more bad news after the game. A preliminary diagnosis revealed that lineman Rod Williams may have torn the medial collateral ligament in his left knee. He is scheduled for an MRI today.

Williams watched the end of the game on television in the locker room. "Better for us to lose now," he said. "This will humble us, get us back hungry again."

ORLANDO 56, LAS VEGAS 31: Jay Gruden threw five touchdowns as the host Predators pulled away. Gruden, younger brother of Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden, was 15-for-26 for 169 yards.

-- Information from Times wires was used in the report.

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