Dallas ends SaberCats' home win streak
March 23, 2008 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
San Jose SaberCats News Release
SAN JOSE, Calif. (Mar. 22, 2008) - Despite a career night from wide receiver Cleannord Saintil, the Dallas Desperados handed the San Jose SaberCats their first regular season home loss in two years by defeating the defending ArenaBowl champions 59-56 Saturday night.
The loss snapped San Jose's 15-game regular season home win streak, the second longest in AFL history. The 'Cats home loss is their first in the regular season since March 12th, 2006, when they dropped a contest to their Southern California rival Los Angeles Avengers by a score of 75-61.
Saintil caught 18 passes, a SaberCats franchise record, for 218 yards, the second-most in team history. He also had a game-high tying three touchdown catches.
Mark Grieb was solid, completing 34 of 45 passes for 356 yards and six touchdowns, with no interceptions. This is his second game this season with more than 34 completions. Unfortunately, his counterpart, Chris Sanders was solid as well. Sanders also threw no interceptions, completing 20 of 28 passes while racking up 277 yards and six touchdowns.
Dallas' Anthony Armstrong had six catches for 133 yards and 3 touchdowns. Late in the fourth quarter, Armstrong caught a 48 yard touchdown pass that broke a 49-49 tie, giving Dallas the last lead of the game.
On the following drive, defensive back Johnnie Harris forced a fumble that was recovered by his teammate, linebacker Bobby Perry. Five plays later, Remy Hamilton kicked a 45 yard field goal that gave the Desperados the 59 points they would need to win. Mark Grieb completed a ten yard touchdown pass to James Roe as time expired, ending the game 59-56 in favor of Dallas.
Saintil's record 18 catches breaks a team mark of 14, held by James Hundon, Ben Nelson, and James Roe. The 218 yards receiving is second only to Steve Papin's 232, set in 2000.
NOTES:
With his record-setting effort WR Cleannord Saintil also caught his 50th career pass and topped the 500 career receiving yard mark...Brian Johnson reached the 250 career rush yard plateau (251) playing in his 50th career game...Marquis Floyd had the 100th solo tackle of his career...Jason Geathers surpassed the 700 career receiving yard mark (702)...A.J. Haglund was 8-for-8 in PATs extending his streak of consecutive regular season makes to 50, he also tied Carlos Huerta for 3rd place in career kick scoring (208)...James Roe had 7 catches giving him 693 in his career. He passed Randy Gatewood (687) for 13th place on the AFL's all-time list...OL Gene Frederic played in his 1st career AFL game and had a TD reception called back due to a penalty...Clevan Thomas had the 350th total tackle of his career...San Jose had its 9-game Saturday win streak snapped...Mark Grieb threw for 356 yards, the 10th highest game total in team history and his 38th career 300-yard game. He also had his 9th career rushing TD...Cleannord Saintil amassed 313 all-purpose yards, the team's first 300-yard game since Rashied Davis had 341 on Mar. 18, 2005.
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