Rally flattens Storm

Orlando comes back from 12 down in the final minute, and a field-goal miss at the end leaves Tampa Bay a 44-43 loser.

By JOHN C. COTEY

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 13, 2000

ORLANDO -- Justin Skinner missed a 53-yard field goal as time expired, and the Predators rallied from a 12-point deficit in the final minute to stun the Storm 44-43 Friday night at the TD Waterhouse Centre.

The Arena League's premier rivalry got the kind of ending the series has provided over the years. The Storm had a chance to run the clock out after Orlando scored with 1:00 left, but it failed to gain even a yard, fumbling twice on the quarterback-center exchange on two of its three plays before Skinner missed a 40-yarder.

On the miss, Joe Douglass ran the ball back to the 25-yard line.

Working with 19 seconds, Orlando quarterback Connell Maynor completed a 13-yard pass to Douglass and a screen to Rick Hamilton for 7 yards. After a false start and a holding penalty on consecutive plays, Maynor hit Douglass for an 18-yard score with 9.6 seconds remaining.

Orlando went for two and failed, and Wayne Walker returned the kick to the 13. After an incompletion, Skinner came on to try for the winner. The kick had the distance but was well wide to the left as the horn sounded.

Orlando, the leader in the Southern Division, improved to 4-0. The Storm fell to 1-4, last in the division.

The Storm never trailed until the final Orlando score. It relied on its defense and Skinner down the stretch. Though the Storm scored just one second-half touchdown, Skinner made field goals of 45 and 28 yards. The 28-yarder came with 4:51 remaining and put the Storm ahead 43-31.

Orlando trimmed the deficit to 43-38 with 1:05 left when Maynor hit Bret Cooper for a 13-yard touchdown on fourth and goal, setting up the final rally.

The game appeared to be heading toward lopsidedness when Maynor was intercepted on the second half's second play. Hit by the Storm rush on the play, Maynor frantically threw a desperation pass about 10 yards into the hands of Lawrence Samuels, who returned it 10 yards to the Predators 5. But one play later, Kenny McEntyre picked off Storm quarterback John Kaleo at the goal line and raced 50 yards for a touchdown, making 3the score 31-24.

For McEntyre, who returned four interceptions for touchdowns last year, it was his third interception this year but first return for a touchdown. As a team, Orlando got its third touchdown off an interception.

On the next play from scrimmage, Kaleo fluttered a screen pass that McEntyre almost picked off. But Kaleo steadied himself and completed his next two passes, the second a 29-yard touchdown to Samuels. The Predators' vaunted defense, which had allowed averages of 29 points and 199 yards, both the lowest in the league, was ripped up by Kaleo in the first half. Making his second start, Kaleo was 11-for-17 for 180 yards in the first two quarters, and the Storm scored 31 points.

Kaleo directed the Storm to scores on every drive but one in the first half, and though he threw an interception on the lone exception, the Predators failed to score.

Three receivers caught touchdowns in the first half -- Samuels (9 yards), Jason Dulick (10) and Walker (22). But it was Kaleo's 2-yard run on a bootleg that broke a 17-17 tie and put the Storm ahead with 5:05 left.

The Predators drove to the Storm 9, and a penalty moved them back to the 12, but that did not deter Orlando coach Jay Gruden from going for it. Maynor's pass fell incomplete, returning the ball to Tampa Bay with 42 seconds remaining.

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