Lubbock unable to sneak Past Coyotes
June 10, 2007 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Lubbock Renegades News Release
Fresno, CA - Central Valley Coyotes Aleric Clark returned a pair of kickoff returns for touchdowns, including a 56-yard return as time expired to prevent a Lubbock comeback win and defeat the Lubbock Renegades 74-68 Saturday night in front of frenzied 2,497 fans at Selland Arena. The Renegades saw their two-game winning streak snapped and they drop to 4-6 on the season.
The two teams combined for 21 touchdowns and there was only one defensive stop of the combined 18 offensive drives. Lubbock's defense could not stop the Coyotes offense, which found the endzone on all eight offensive possessions. The only stop came on the first play of the second quarter, as Donyell Booker scooped up a fumble in Lubbock's offensive backfield and scampered 18 yards for the score. While the Coyotes strikes were short and sweet, Lubbock manufactured their scoring drives. Special teams play hurt the Renegades again, placing the Coyotes with quality field position and forcing themselves to drive long lengths on their scoring drives. The Renegades offense almost overcame the lack of productive special teams and defensive collapses with the play of quarterback Robert Kent. Kent helped the Renegades go 7-for-7 on fourth down conversions and had his hand involved in all ten touchdowns produced by Lubbock. The Lubbock signal-caller tossed eight touchdowns and completed 28 of 45 passes for 363 yards, while also rushing for two scores. Kent finished with 43 rushing yards on seven carries. Chris Highshaw led Lubbock receivers with 126 yards on seven catches, including a franchise best 45-yard touchdown reception. John King had three of Kent's eight touchdown throws for his second consecutive three-touchdown performance.
Quarterback Clay Groefsema picked apart Lubbock's defense by completing 16 of his 20 pass attempts for 230 yards and five touchdowns. His primary target was Tonae Martin, who caught 9 passes for 121 yards and found the endzone twice. Fullback Damian Martin also rushed for a pair of scores in the see-saw affair that saw 12 lead changes.
Lubbock almost pulled off the dramatic win before being upstaged by Clark's winning score. As Central Valley marched offensively in the final minute trailing 62-60, Lubbock's Chris Hudler gave Groefsema an escort to the endzone on first-and-goal from the five yard line. It allowed the Coyotes to take a 68-62 lead, but it gave Lubbock back the ball with 40-seconds remaining and an opportunity to grab the final lead. Lubbock did go the distance on the ensuing drive and Robert Kent's one-yard touchdown run with four-seconds remaining tied the game at 68-68, and Chris Balseiro's PAT was blocked to keep the score tied. Thoughts, which then shifted to the thought of overtime, were quickly ended on the following kickoff, as Clark eluded several defenders down the right side of the wall and gave the Coyotes the home win.
Lubbock now heads into a bye week and will not play until they host the Amarillo Dusters for a Central Division battle on Saturday, June 23rd at Lubbock's City Bank Coliseum.
• Discuss this story on the arenafootball2 message board...
arenafootball2 Stories from June 10, 2007
- Shock defeat Bakersfield 40-21 - Spokane Shock
- Lubbock unable to sneak Past Coyotes - Lubbock Renegades
- Copperheads Injuries Spell Disaster - Texas Copperheads
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
