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Brigade hangs tough in opener, but falls 58-44 at Dallas

January 29, 2006 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
Kansas City Brigade News Release


A slow opening quarter by the Kansas City Brigade in their inaugural game against the Dallas Desperados forced them to play from behind the entire afternoon at the American Airlines Center on Sunday. Dallas scored on nine of its 11 possessions despite running 14 fewer plays while the Brigade missed out on points on three possessions due to turnovers for a 58-44 loss. The Brigade is now 0-1 in their first season and travel to Orlando to face the 0-1 Predators on Friday at 6:30 p.m.

"It's always disappointing to lose but we got the first game under our belt for a lot of new guys," head coach Kevin Porter said afterwards. "The ball bounces a funny way sometimes. The offense dropped some balls, but the team never quit. Now we'll watch film and get ready for Orlando."

Arena Football League career passing leader Andy Kelly, found wide receiver/linebacker Calvin Spears for a 10-yard touchdown pass near the end of the third quarter after an intentional pass interference call to bring the Brigade within one score at 37-30, but that was as close as they would get. Dallas gunslinger Clint Dolezel (who finished the game 25-35-1-271) threw consecutive touchdowns to Dialleo Burks (who finished with nine catches for 108 yards and 2 TD's) around a Kelly interception by Will Pettis in the end zone to give the Desperados a 51-30 lead with 10:28 left in the game. Moments earlier Brigade defensive specialist Cliff Green went out with an Achilles injury and could be out for the season.

Fullback/linebacker Byron Douzart scored on a one yard run with five minutes left to cut the lead to 14, but Dallas' Haman Milligan recovered a surprise onside kick to prevent the comeback. Even after Spears intercepted Dolezel in the end zone, he fumbled a first down catch from Kelly to stall any comeback. Dolezel responded with his sixth touchdown pass of the game and third to Terrill Shaw (who finished with nine catches for 112 yards and 3 TD's) to seal the Brigade's fate. Kelly threw his fourth touchdown to wide receiver/linebacker James Jordan, who totaled eight catches for 57 yards, for the final score with 14 seconds left. It was the Brigade's fourth touchdown in as many trips into the red zone.

"I'm disappointed but not disheartened," Kelly said. "We're a better team than we showed, but three turnovers and giving up a couple of cheapies didn't help. We're a good football team. We just started off slow today and made a comeback, but Dallas made plays when they needed to and we didn't."

First game jitters were evident for the Brigade as the offense went three-and-out on the first drive of the game and Kelly was intercepted in the end zone by Pettis on their second drive after fullback/linebacker Dawan Moss forced and recovered a fumble by Dallas' Duke Pettijohn. The Desperados got on the board first on a one-yard run by Dolezel after Douzart was whistled for a late hit on a play in which offensive lineman/defensive lineman Chad Pegues broke through the line to sack Dolezel. The Brigade committed 11 penalties for 59 yards, but defensive specialist Chris Pointer did lead the defense with seven solo tackles.

The Brigade, which scored on seven of its 11 possessions (6 TD's) got it together on their next drive as Kelly recorded the first completion and first down in team history, both to offensive specialist Jerel Myers, who played in place of Steve Smith, a late scratch, and finished the game with nine receptions for 81 yards with two touchdowns. Porter made the call to go for it on fourth down from the one-yard line and it paid off as a pass interference call in the end zone gave the Brigade a fresh set of downs on the one-yard line. Moss powered it in off the left side for the first touchdown in Brigade history, but Tim Seder missed the extra point to keep Dallas in the lead 7-6 with 12:45 left in the second quarter.

A great move on by Shaw on Dallas' next possession resulted in a 28-yard touchdown pass from Dolezel to give the Desperados a 14-6 lead. The Brigade offense would not be kept off the scoreboard, though, as Kelly hit Spears for 11 yards on third down and a roughing the passer penalty added 10 more yards. Three plays later Kelly lofted a perfect pass over the Dallas defense to Myers for a 20-yard touchdown. Seder made the extra point to bring the Brigade within one at 14-13.

Dolezel and Shaw connected again downfield for a 30-yard touchdown and an eight point Dallas lead with 4:21 left in the half. The Brigade drove into Desperados territory again, converting a fourth-and-three with one minute left before the Brigade turned the ball over on downs. The teams traded field goals before the half ended with Seder connecting from 46 yards to keep the Brigade within at score at 24-16.

Dallas' big plays continued at the start of the second half as Pettis picked up the kickoff in the end zone and made two moves and took the ball to the Kansas City 11-yard line. An offsides penalty put the ball at the four-yard line and Pettijohn scored on the next play. Carlos Hernandez missed the extra point, though, and Dallas led 30-16.

Kelly wasted no time in getting the Brigade back in the game as Myers, his favorite target of the day, made a move on the left side to break open across the middle for a 13-yard touchdown. Seder connected on the extra point to keep the Brigade within a score with 7:30 left in the third quarter.

"I did all right today but we didn't win so it doesn't matter," Myers said. "The offense had the jitters at the beginning with some dropped balls. We started doing better after that but we can't make some of the mistakes we did. We're at Orlando Friday and they are a good ball club so we've got to pick it up. We got our mental mistakes out of the way. Our first game is over and we have 15 to go to get where we want to be in June."

The Brigade's best chance to tie the game came on Dallas' next drive as Dolezel overthrew his receiver on fourth down, but a pass interference penalty gave the Desperados another chance and Dolezel did not waste it. Pettis broke open downfield and Dolezel found him easily for a 19-yard touchdown and a 37-23 lead with 2:50 left in the third quarter.

"You can't turn the ball over or commit penalties, especially against a good team and a good quarterback," offensive lineman/defensive lineman B.J. Cohen said. "In Arena Football you need to click in all phases of the game, which we didn't do today. We talk about it all the time that we have to finish, but we still played hard."

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