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Nighthawks Shoot Themselves in Loss to Wildcats

May 20, 2002 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Norfolk Nighthawks News Release


The Norfolk Nighthawks (1-5) got off to their worst start in franchise history by losing to the Cape Fear Wildcats (4-2) 57-32, in front of 4,200 fans last Saturday night in Fayetteville, NC.

Norfolk's turnover woes continued as they lost four fumbles, two of which led directly to Wildcats' touchdowns.

Cape Fear scored on their first two offensive plays of the first quarter to jump out to a 13-0 lead after playing less than six minutes. Following the second score, the Nighthawks would put together a 12-play, 49-yard scoring drive, ending with Gary Briggs 5-yard touchdown reception, cutting the score to 13-6. After a Gary Kral field goal, Nighthawks new QB Chris Wallace would find WR/DB Dominic Banks from 30-yards our for his second scoring strike and got the Nighthawks to within four, 16-12.

Both teams would trade fumbles attempting to score before the half, but the Nighthawks' would again prove to be more costly. After a Gary Briggs touchdown catch was called back for an illegal motion penalty, Wallace was blindsided on the next play and gave the ball to Cape fear on their own 20-yard line. Game MVP and QB Mike Gluski found Mitchell Galloway for a 32-yard scoring strike before the half and extended the lead to 23-12.

The second half began with a big fourth-and-1 stop by the Nighthawks defense on the Wildcats' opening drive. However, the offense would take three plays before af2 sack leader and ADT defensive player of the game, EJ Burt, would hit Wallace for the second time to force a fumble and end the Nighthawks momentum.

Cape Fear would take over from there outscoring Norfolk 35-20 in the second half. Wallace would find WR/LB Travis Burns for two late scores (29 and 44 yards), but the team could not get any closer than 18 points. Burns led all receivers with 108 yards on seven catches. Wallace had a good debut for the team, throwing for a season-high five touchdowns on 16-of-35 passing for 213 yards.

The loss gave the Wildcats a season series sweep of the Nighthawks and moved them into the second spot in the Atlantic Division. The Nighthawks are currently in last place and return home for their next six-out of-seven games.

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