Arena League

Middle ground bad for Storm

ORLANDO 61, STORM 46: Predators' 27 straight points from the second quarter to the fourth doom Tampa Bay.

By FRANK PASTOR
Published February 12, 2005

ORLANDO - Storm coach Tim Marcum believes the last possession of the first half and the first series of the second are the most important in Arena football.

Tampa Bay scored on both to pull away from defending champion San Jose in a season-opening victory, but Orlando turned the tables in a 61-46 win Friday at TD Waterhouse Center.

The Predators (3-0) scored 27 consecutive points starting in the second quarter and ending in the fourth, including the two pivotal possessions, to snap a four-game losing streak to the Storm (2-1) and move into sole possession of first place in the Southern Division.

"It's good to finally beat them," Orlando coach Jay Gruden said. "We hadn't beaten them four times in a row, and I think our fans were tired of it, our players were tired of it and we were tired of it."

Orlando fullback/linebacker Idris Price had two rushing touchdowns and two sacks, and former Bucs quarterback Joe Hamilton threw for three scores and ran for another.

Tampa Bay, which averaged a league-high 62.5 points in its first two games, was grounded thanks to a ferocious Orlando pass rush that sacked Shane Stafford five times and held the Storm scoreless in the third quarter.

"We got our butt kicked," Marcum said. "I can't think of one aspect of the game of Arena football that we didn't get worth a kick. Receivers weren't getting open, we weren't protecting our quarterback and when the receivers got open and we did protect him, the quarterback didn't throw the ball very well."

Clif Dell, who caught a career-high four touchdowns in place of injured Storm offensive specialist Freddie Solomon in a victory over Austin last weekend, was held to three inconsequential scores in a similar role after Solomon aggravated a high ankle sprain late in the first quarter.

The Storm led most of the first half, but Michael Brown's 39-yard touchdown reception with four seconds left put Orlando ahead 27-24.

Tampa Bay took the lead at 24-20 on Jarrod Penright's 18-yard run with 1:11 left. But on Orlando's final offensive play of the half, Brown caught Hamilton's desperation pass in front of a falling Jonathan Ordway and stepped over Ordway into the end zone.

Orlando scored the first 20 points of the second half to take Tampa Bay out of the game.

After a defensive stop, Price's 3-yard touchdown run gave the Predators a 33-24 lead. Price was penalized for delay of game after spiking the ball into the stands, and Brian Gowins, signed earlier in the week in an attempt to solve Orlando's kicking woes, missed the first of two extra points.

Orlando extended its lead to 16 on former Buc Buck Gurley's fumble return with 3:16 left in the third. Linebacker Rupert Grant knocked the ball out of Stafford's hands, and the 300-pound Gurley picked up the ball and rumbled untouched down the right sideline.

Aided by an intentional grounding penalty on Stafford, Orlando stopped Tampa Bay's next possession and made the Storm pay when Brown scored from 2 yards on an end around, giving the Predators a 47-24 lead.

[Last modified February 12, 2005, 00:25:13]