Desperados Weather Storm, 59-40
March 11, 2007 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
Dallas Desperados News Release
DALLAS - The Desperados needed only a half to secure their season-opening win last Sunday, but the Tampa Bay Storm made them work for four quarters Saturday night.
Tampa Bay stayed within two scores throughout the game, but the Desperados scored 14 unanswered points in a fourth-quarter stretch to win their 2007 home opener convincingly, 59-40, before 13,805 at American Airlines Center.
"It wasn't perfection today but it was a win," Desperados head coach Will McClay said. "Each week if we perfect the things that we didn't do well, we have an opportunity to continue to grow."
Desperados quarterback Clint Dolezel completed passes to six different receivers for 294 yards, eight touchdowns and one just interception. Wide receiver/defensive back Will Pettis entertained the home crowd with his trademark all-around play, scoring a career-best five total touchdowns.
Both teams traded touchdowns throughout the first half until the Desperados' defense forced a turnover on downs with 55.3 seconds left. Dolezel drove the offense into the red zone but came up empty-handed, keeping the score 26-19 at intermission.
The see-saw flavor to Saturday's game offered a stark contrast to the Desperados' season-opening barbecue on Long Island, where they raced to a 33-0 halftime lead and eventually beat Eastern Division rival New York, 60-7. The Desperados (2-0) forced five turnovers in the most lopsided victory in club history (53 points).
Tampa Bay quarterback John Kaleo used short strikes to frustrate the Desperados' pass rush in the first half. McClay instructed his defense at halftime to relax and not try to force any plays.
"We got a little too full of ourselves early," said fullback/linebacker Duke Pettijohn, the Defensive Player of the Game. "Then we took a step back, regrouped ourselves and realized it isn't about sacks and all that. Stops are just as good."
The defense forced three of them in the second half, including a brilliant diving interception by rookie wide receiver/defensive back Bobby Keyes midway through the fourth quarter. Dolezel then threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to fullback/linebacker Josh White to give Dallas a three-score lead, 52-33.
Keyes said he watched film on Tampa Bay (0-2) all week and expected the Storm receiver to run a post route, but he faked inside and ran a corner route.
"The whole time I was thinking he's fixing to run a post," said Keyes, who also stopped a Tampa Bay kickoff return at its own 1-yard line. "And as soon as I took off hard on the post, I saw him disappear. I turned around and just felt like the Lord pushed me."
Kaleo trimmed the lead to 52-40 with a 15-yard touchdown pass to T.T. Toliver, but Tampa Bay elected not to try an onside kick inside the final minute and Dolezel regained a 19-point lead with a 2-yard pass to Willis Marshall with 10 seconds left.
Pettis was named Ironman and Offensive Player of the Game with his five touchdowns, including a 56-yard kickoff return that made the score 32-26 early in the third quarter. Kicker Dustin Bell missed his third extra point of the game following the touchdown.
The Desperados' defense forced another turnover on downs on the next series, and Pettis pushed the lead to 13 points with his third touchdown grab.
"I think the momentum change was the kick return," Dolezel said. "That put their offense back on the field real fast, and we got some pressure and got the turnover. I think that's what changed the game."
The Desperados have improved to 2-0 for the second consecutive season after winning six of their first seven games in 2006. They'll play back-to-back road games the next two weeks at Kansas City and Orlando, the team which knocked them out of the playoffs in last year's National Conference championship game.
"Right now we're 2-0 and that just means that we've won two games," McClay said. "Those two games are behind us now. We've got to go on to next week in Kansas City."
Arena Football League (1987-2008) Stories from March 11, 2007
- Wranglers fall to Force, 60-51 - Austin Wranglers
- Georgia Force down Austin Wranglers 60-51 in home opener - Georgia Force
- Storm fall to the Desperados, 59-40 - Tampa Bay Storm
- Crush down Brigade, 44-40, for first win of season - Colorado Crush
- Desperados Weather Storm, 59-40 - Dallas Desperados
- Late touchdown lifts Blaze over Rattlers, 75-71 - Utah Blaze
- Rattlers Burned by Blaze 75-71 - Arizona Rattlers
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