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June 15, 2008 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Stockton Lightning News Release


STOCKTON, Calif. - QB Clay Groefsema threw for 282 yards and four touchdowns on a 24-of-40 night, helping the Central Valley Coyotes defeat the Stockton Lightning 51-29 in a wire-to-wire effort before a crowd of 4,540 at Stockton Arena on Saturday in Week 12 of arenafootball2 play.

The Lightning (2-9), who were flanked by an appearance from "Jet" of the television show "American Gladiators," were led offensively by WR Justin Taplin's 6 catches, 85 yards and 3 touchdown receptions while QB Andy Collins threw for 3 scores and 183 yards despite being limited to a 14-for-32 effort.

Alex Walls converted a season-long 36-yard field goal attempt to put the Lighting up 3-0 on the first series of the game.

The Coyotes struck back quickly with a touchdown of their own, putting them in the lead at 7-3 when Tonae Martin rushed for a four-yard score and followed with another four-yard TD rush with 1:52 left, advancing Central Valley's cushion to 13-3.

Following a Nichiren Flowers TD reception the Lightning notched their first touchdown of the contest when Taplin hauled in a leaping four-yard grab at the left corner, slicing the deficit to 19-10. The Stockton Lightning foundation, who donated $25 to the Red Cross local disaster relief fund for local fire victims, raised money on the strength of four Lightning touchdowns in the game.

Central Valley pushed the margin to 37-10 with 10:37 left in the third quarter following two touchdown passes by Groefsema to WR Tonae Martin and Wes Borba, parlayed with an 18-yard field goal by Mikael Bjork.

Collins, using his feet to make things happen, scampered for a 9-yard touchdown rush to kick-start a furious 19-0 Stockton rally with 8:25 left in the third stanza. Taplin then hauled in two consecutive touchdown snares, including a 29-yard bomb with 4:20 left in the third quarter which eventually closed the gap to 37-29.

A 14-0 run by the Coyotes silenced the Lightning rally when Martin and Flowers each caught a touchdown pass by Groefsema, with Flowers connecting for the longest Central Valley score, a 25-yarder, with 6:07 left.



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