af2 Green Bay Blizzard

Late score, tough defense lift Blizzard over Quad City

by Paul Reeths
Published on May 21, 2005 under arenafootball2 (af2)
Green Bay Blizzard


Johnny Turman hit Robert Garth with a nine-yard touchdown throw with 14 seconds left in the game to give the Green Bay Blizzard a 56-49 victory over the Quad City Steamwheelers Saturday night at the Resch Center in Green Bay. The win moved the Blizzard to 6-1, tied for the lead at the top of arenafootball2's American Conference East Division. Quad City fell to 3-4 on the year.

Though the Blizzard defense collected five turnovers on the night, quarterback Sam Clemons rallied the Steamwheelers to a 49-48 lead with under a minute left in the second half. Two pass interference penalties gave Green Bay new life on its final possession, however, and Turman bought enough time in the pocket to find Garth.

Green Bay came out strong to open the game. After driving to the Blizzard one, Quad City turned the ball over on its first possession when a failed exchange resulted in a fumble that Green Bay picked up at its own five. They made immediate use of the good fortune when Turman hit offensive specialist Troy Mason in stride for a 45-yard touchdown.

The visitors tied it after a pair of Green Bay penalties set up Travis Burns' two-yard scoring run. Following a defensive stop, Sam Clemons led the Steamwheelers down to the Blizzard one again. This time he kept it himself to give Quad City a 14-7 advantage.

Lance Taylor returned the ensuing kickoff deep into Steamwheeler territory, and Turman capped off a short drive with a scoring run of his own to knot it at 14-14 with the first score of the second quarter.

Two more fumbles deep in Blizzard territory cost Quad City dearly in the second period. Green Bay returned the first loose ball to the Steamwheelers' 20 where Turman hit Brent Holmes for a 30-yard TD. Matt Huebner did the damage on the next drive when he finished off a long Blizzard possession with a one-yard scoring run to make it 28-14.

Quad City pulled to within seven on a Clemons to Burns connection right before the half.

Following Huebner's second one-yard score of the contest, Clemons connected with Burns on a 36-yard bomb on fourth-and-one to get Quad City back to within 35-28. An onside kick caught the Blizzard off guard, and Clemons made them pay with a 16-yard scoring toss to Jack Walker, Jr. to tie the game at 35-all.

Green Bay opened the final period scoring with a one-yard Turman to Robert Garth connection, but Henrik Juul-Nielsen missed the extra point to leave them with a 41-35 margin. Quad City then took its first lead since the opening period on another Clemons to Walker connection.

The lead proved to be short-lived as Turman threw short to Mason who snuck into the endzone to make it 48-42 Green Bay. Clemons then hit Hewit on a fourth-down play to put Quad City ahead, 49-48. Following a Green Bay fumble, Quad City had a chance to run out the clock, but a running play lost yardage, two consecutive passes fell incomplete and Clemons' fourth-down completion came up short, giving the Blizzard one last chance. The Steamwheelers looked to have held the Blizzard on fourth down with 25.8 seconds remaining, but a pass interference penalty gave Green Bay a first down.

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