STORM 42, FORCE 38: Tampa Bay clinches the Southern Division title, giving Marcum 100th win.
By KEVIN BARNES
Published May 19, 2003
DULUTH, Ga. - John Kaleo threw five touchdowns, four to offensive specialist Freddie Solomon, and fullback David White scored on a 1-yard run with 21 seconds left to lead the Storm 42-38 over Georgia on Sunday afternoon in the Arena Football League.
The Storm won the Southern Division and after a bye this week, will host a playoff game May31 at 3 p.m. Tampa Bay finished 12-4 and is seeded second.
"It was huge for us to get this victory," said coach Tim Marcum, who won his 100th game with the Storm. "Now we know where we are. We're No.2 slot and San Jose is one."
The Storm found itself in a closer contest with the Force than their past meeting, which Tampa Bay won 58-39 April6.
Georgia's Leon Murray threw a 12-yard TD to Jarrick Hillery with 47 seconds left to give the Force a 38-35 cushion. Murray completed 21-of-40 for 267 yards and four touchdowns and Hillery had two TDs.
On the Storm's final drive, Kaleo connected with Solomon twice. The nine-year quarterback threw a 15-yard completion to Antoine Toliver to the 1. White rushed up the middle for the TD.
After a 33-yard kickoff return, Georgia took over on Tampa Bay's 22 with 21 seconds left. After Murray threw two incompletions, defensive lineman Troy Wilson sacked the quarterback as time expired. Tampa Bay had two sacks to match its single-season record of 29.
Kaleo set the Storm's all-time season record for TD passes with a 17-yarder to Solomon at 10:26 in the first quarter. He topped Jay Gruden's mark of 70 set in 1996 and matched in 1998 by Peter Tom Willis. Kaleo finished the season with 75 TDs.
"I better have set it with 16 games, instead of 14," Kaleo said. "It doesn't matter - all the personal stuff. The thing that matters is the 12 wins this year."
Kaleo was 25-of-38 for 315 yards and two interceptions. Solomon caught 14 passes for 172 yards and finished the season with 106 catches and 1,553 yards.
DALLAS 62, GRAND RAPIDS 51: Quarterback Jim Kubiak set the league's season record for passing yards (4,762) and the visiting Desperados clinched the Central Division title. Kubiak topped the 4,515 set by New York's Aaron Garcia in 2001.
CHICAGO 46, INDIANA 43 (OT): Keith Gispert kicked a 16-yard field goal with 5:18 left for the host Rush.
ARIZONA 59, COLORADO 48: Sherdrick Bonner completed 19-of-26 for 227 yards and seven touchdowns for the visiting Rattlers.
LAS VEGAS 55, BUFFALO 38: Todd Hammel completed 11-of-14 for 138 yards and four touchdowns for the host Gladiators.
- Information from Times wires was used in this report.
