Sports: Storm rebounds in Milwaukee

[an error occurred while processing this directive] Sports

Storm rebounds in Milwaukee

ARENA FOOTBALL: Peter Tom Willis' 35-yard TD pass to Lawrence Samuels opens 49-42 win over Mustangs.

By LORI NICKEL

MILWAUKEE -- Tampa Bay will take a game like this on the road, no problem.

The Storm took the lead from the first snap and ultimately wore out the Milwaukee Mustangs 49-42 on Thursday night at the Bradley Center.

While the Storm offense looked smooth and sophisticated, it was the whirling defense that killed a drive by the Mustangs with less than a minute remaining. Linemen Robert Goff and Sylvester Bembery corraled Mustangs quarterback Todd Hammel and sacked him on the Tampa Bay 15. Milwaukee settled for a field goal and trailed 49-42 with 31 seconds left.

That capped a night that Tampa Bay (1-1) could not have begun any better. Quarterback Peter Tom Willis sailed a 35-yard touchdown to Lawrence Samuels, beating the Mustangs' Wayne Wade in the defense, on the first snap.

Milwaukee's wimpish answer was a fumble on the goal line by fullback Odell Parks.

Tampa Bay would make it worse for Milwaukee (0-2). Milwaukee's Hammel was sacked after Goff leveled Garrett Greedy at the line.

Then Wade dropped an interception, and a few plays later the Mustangs secondary allowed receiver Melvin Cunningham to roam the field and break through three tackles for a 32-yard touchdown catch. That gave Tampa Bay a 21-7 lead with 2:52 left in the half.

Linebacker Stevie Thomas picked off Hammel -- who blanked on the run-and-shoot -- and ran in the 37 yards for a touchdown, a dance and a 28-7 Tampa Bay lead.

But this is Arena Football, and that means anyone can score 13 points in four minutes. Milwaukee did it with Kenny Stucker field goals of 29 and 53 yards and a nifty 23-yard shovel pass to 265-pound lineman Flint Fleming, who collapsed on the goal line not because of a tackle because he was out of breath. Tampa Bay led just 28-20 at the half -- and led throughout the second half.

Former Storm fullback/linebacker Ivan Caesar played sparingly in his season debut with the Mustangs and had no carries. Caesar, second for the Storm in rushing in 1996, was suspended from the league for a year after he attacked Tampa Bay coach Marcum during an April 1997 practice in an effort to take his ArenaBowl championship ring.

Back to Sports

Click for TampaBay.com, your entertainment section and more