Nighthawks Streak Ends on the Road, 55-42, at New Haven
July 22, 2002 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Norfolk Nighthawks News Release
New Haven, CT â The New Haven Ninjas snapped the Nighthawksfive-game winning streak, 55-42, in New Haven Saturday night in front of 2,650 fans.
New Haven (5-10) got steady play from their quarterback and Game MVP, Chris Boden(21-37, 240 yds, six TD), while recovering four Norfolk fumbles leading to 21points, to give them their first win over the Nighthawks (8-7). Both quarterbacks in the game played well,as Chris Wallace completed 31-of-43 passes (72%) for 345 yards and fivetouchdowns.
Bodenstruck first when he found Kamel Minott form 15 yards out for an early 7-0lead. Wallace would answer with a25-yard strike to Dominic Banks, evening the score at seven. Banks had his best career offensive game,catching eleven passes for 147 yards.
TheNighthawks would trade scores with New Haven as Banks caught his second of thegame after an Anthony Comer scoring reception for the Ninjas. This is when the game took its turn for theworse for Norfolk fans. Backed up intheir own territory following two straight penalties, Wallace was blind-sidedby Eric Bouris and fumbled the ball into the endzone where Ryan Brady pouncedon it for the score. It was the firsttime in the game either offense was stopped and gave New Haven the 20-14 lead.
Bouriscame right back on the next possession and this time sacked Wallace for asafety, moving the score up to 22-14. The Nighthawks would get two scores on the board before the half asAnthony Stringfield motored 36-yards for a touchdown and Matt McNew kicked a37-yards field goal, sending it into the intermission 36-23.
Both teams would score the same amount of points in the second half. Norfolk traded scores with New Haven, butevery time the defense would come up with a stop, the offense would fumble theball away.
Travis Burns got his fifth rushingtouchdown of the season when the Nighthawks got to within six, 36-30. However, two Terrence Quattlebaum scoringreceptions, offsetting scores by Banks (4 yds) and Stringfield (6 yds), wouldprove to be enough for the Ninjas to prevail.
IronMan of the Game was Ryan Bland(New Haven). Bland caught four passesfor 82 yards and two scores, while making 2.5 tackles on defense. ADT Defensive Player of the Game, Brady,finished with two tackles and two fumble recoveries. NorfolkDS Chris Pointer recorded 8.5 tackles (seven solo) and two pass breakups, whileAntwon Robinson, starting in at DS for injured Desmond Washington, grabbed histhird interception of the season.
(7/20/02) QB Chris Wallace earnedhis third Built Ford Tough Player of the Game award of 2002. Wallace, under constant pressure and afterbeing hit twice from behind leading to fumbles, managed to keep his composureto have one of the best throwing performances of the season in af2. Wallace completed 31-of-43 passes (72%) for345 yards and five touchdowns. In agame that the Nighthawks fumbled away (four fumbles) on the road, Wallacedemonstrated his ability to play at a high level and proved his toughness onceagain. Wallace, who has played theentire season with foot problems, has helped lead this team to seven wins intheir last ten games.
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