Blitz drop defensive struggle to Coyotes, 40-21

May 1, 2005 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Bakersfield Blitz News Release


Fresno, Calif. - Juston Wood threw four touchdowns and ran for another as the Central Valley Coyotes (3-1) defeated the Bakersfield Blitz (1-3) 40- 21 to spoil the first career start of Blitz QB Jason Thomas at the Selland Arena on Saturday night.

Nick Onaindia put the Blitz on the board as they took the early lead, 7-0. Onaindia took the pitch to the right and weaved his way down the field for a 40- yard touchdown rumble on Bakersfield's second play of the game. Central Valley QB Juston Wood rolled out to his right and danced into the end zone to tie the game 7-7. A late Coyotes field goal had the Blitz trailing after the first quarter for the first time all season.

Central Valley pushed ahead by 10 when Wood ran in the second Coyotes touchdown of the game to make it 17-7. The Blitz Shawn King forced a Wood fumble deep in his own territory, and Thomas need only two plays to rush in his third touchdown of the season and make it 17-14. John Gockman added his second field goal of the game to account for the Coyotes 20-14 lead at the half.

Wood engineered a 47 yard scoring march for the Coyotes on their first possession that chewed up nearly 10 minutes of clock time and gave the home team a 13-point cushion. After taking over on downs, Central Valley extended the lead with a 16 yard strike to DeRonn Finley early in the fourth.

Thomas led a Blitz scoring drive midway through the final quarter, capped by a touchdown pass to Nathan Munson, to cut the lead to 12. But Central Valley was undaunted. Wood hooked up with George Williams for a 36 yard strike to make it 40-21 with five minutes remaining to provide the final offense of the game.

The Blitz heads out to Bossier-Shreveport next weekend for a Saturday night match on May 7th. Friday night football in Bakersfield continues as the Blitz take on the Tulsa Talons at 7:00 p.m. That night, the Blitz are guaranteeing a victory against their West Division rivals, and if the Blitz don't defeat Tulsa that night, everyone in attendance will get a free ticket to their next home game the following week against rival San Diego. The first 2,000 fans through the doors on May 7th will also get a Blitz Dashboard Memo Pad, courtesy of KGEO "Hot Talk" AM 1230.



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