Copperheads Win First Ever Road Game
June 8, 2008 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Texas Copperheads News Release
Hidalgo, TX - With 11 seconds to play Texas DB James Todd intercepted a Travis Cole pass in his own end zone to secure a 47-35 National Southwest Division win for the Copperheads. Todd intercepted 3 Travis Cole passes on the evening and was recognized as the ADT Defensive Player of the Game. The Copperheads win at Rio Grand Valley is the franchise's first ever road victory and raises their record to 2-8. The Dorados fall to 4-6.
Texas took advantage of 3 first half Dorados turnovers and raced to a 27-7 first half lead. After James Todd's first interception of the evening David Kennebrew capped off a 37 yard drive with a 1 yard TD run.
On Rio Grande Valley's next possession Dorados RB Pierre Thomas was stripped of the ball near the Texas goal line by Armar Watson. Watson rambled 48 yards for a TD to give Texas a 17-7 lead.
Shortly after Darius Pettigrew grabbed an interception off the wall in the Texas end zone, Rudy Carlton teamed up with Marcus Bacon for an eight yard pass and run TD.
Nick Gatto converted on a 34 yard field goal on the final play of the half to conclude first half scoring.
Texas wasted little time as they scored on their first possession of the 2nd half. Just before being sandwiched by 3 Dorados pass rushers, Rudy Carlton stood tall in the pocket and found Gabriel Hatchett for a 27 yard TD pass to give the Copperheads a commanding 34-7 lead.
After giving up 34 consecutive points to Texas, Rio Grande Valley would make a 21 point run of their own. Cole passed to Jermaine Carpenter for two scores, the Dorados defense recorded a safety and then Carpenter returned the ensuing kick off 56 yards for a TD to account for the Dorados' run.
Gatto ended Rio Grande Valley's scoring run by converting a field goal to push Texas' lead to 37-28, but Cole and Carpenter weren't ready to throw in the towel as they teamed up on a 4 yard TD pass and catch. Gatto responded with his fourth field goal of the evening to give Texas a 40-35 lead. Gatto scored 17 points on the evening.
Carlton closed out the scoring by throwing his third TD pass of the evening as he found Armar Watson for 22 yards.
The Copperheads travel to Bossier-Shreveport for a June 14, 2008 contest with the Battle Wings before returning to the Berry Center on Saturday June 21, 2008 for a 7:30pm meeting with the Corpus Christi Sharks. Tickets for the June 21st contest with Corpus Christi start at just ten dollars. Group tickets begin at five dollars. You can purchase tickets by calling the Copperheads front office at 281-807-6000 or at www.ticketmaster.com. On game day, tickets are available at the Berry Center box office. For more information visit www.txcopperheads.com.
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