Phantoms Can Kannell
June 2, 2002 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
Toronto Phantoms News Release
Uniondale, NY: By their own admission, the members of the New York Dragons are growing tired of losing to the Toronto Phantoms. Saturday night's meeting at the Nassau Coliseum would mark the 6th game in the past year between these Eastern Division rivals â each of the previous 5 decisions had gone Toronto's way. This time around, the Dragons swore, things would be different as they rolled out a brand new starting quarterback â former NFL pivot Danny Kannell. New quarterback...same old result. The Phantoms forced Kannell into 4 interceptions in a 63-38 road win. While much of the pre-game hype was focused on Kannell's long-awaited debut as a starter and the fire he would supposedly breathe into the Dragons passing attack, the Toronto ground game made the difference once the game actually began. Toronto jumped out to a 35-7 first half lead getting 4 rushing touchdowns from 3 different players, Anthony Hicks, Jermaine Younger and Phil Glover. Hicks scored twice, crashing in from 4 yards out each time. Says Hicks, "All week in practice we've been talking about finishing up properly when we got in the red zone, so I was determined and the guys up on the line were determined to get us in there." Toronto entered this game with the second-worst red zone offence in the league, but scored on all 6 of its red zone possessions against the Dragons using a successful rushing attack. Toronto's success in running the ball wasn't limited only to the red zone though. For the game, Toronto out-gained New York 45-0 on the ground â that's the most rushing yards the Dragons have surrendered in a single game in the club's history, eclipsing the record Toronto set in a win last season. Younger banged out 11 of those yards as he celebrated a birthday with his team-leading 7th rushing touchdown of the season. "I can't think of a better way to turn 31 than to show the young guys that this old guy can still run the ball with authority." As for Kannell, he was impressive at times and ineffective at others. On New York's first possession he led the team down the field in just 6 plays capped off by a 6 yard scoring strike to Mike Furrey â the first of 3 TD receptions for Furrey. However, each of New York's next touches resulted in interceptions by Charlie Davidson. Says the Phantoms captain, "I think Kannell is still new to the game and has a lot of learning to do because we threw some different looks at him at times and he really seemed to struggle when we did that." The proof of that lies in the numbers. Kannell finished the night with 4 interceptions and had 9 other passes broken up or batted down by Phantoms defenders. Kannell put the ball in the air 41 times, but connected on just 21 of those attempts for 217 yards. In the second half, Kannell seemed to settle down throwing 3 touchdown passes in a span of just over nine minutes, drawing the Dragons within just 4 points with 9 minutes to play. Toronto had suffered second half breakdowns in each of its previous two starts, both ending in losses. But, apparently, Toronto wasn't concerned about another repeat performance. "I can honestly say I wasn't worried", says WR/LB Kerry Brown. "We had let them back in the game and I realized that if we did what we were supposed to do we could put them back down again." Toronto did just that in truly emphatic fashion scoring 3 unanswered touchdowns in the last 7 minutes of the game. Two of those majors were provided by the Phantoms emerging star, 2nd year WR/DB Luke Leverson. With 6:53 left to play, he leapt high in the corner of the end zone to pull down a 30-yard pass from Chad Salisbury on a corner route. That same scene was played out mere minutes later, covering 28 yards. "Luke Leverson just continues to grow as a player and make tremendous strides", says Mark Stoute, the Phantoms Head Coach & General Manager. "He made a pair of big catches at key moments in this game and really made the difference for us." Leverson earned the nod as Ironman (the top two-way player) for the second consecutive week making 7 catches in total for 103 yards. Damian Harrell, Chad Salisbury and Anthony Derricks also stood out for Toronto, statistically speaking. Harrell was named as the game MVP with 8 catches for 90 yards â this in spite of playing just over 30 minutes as he laboured throughout with a tight hamstring. Harrell was pulled from the field after scoring what eventually stood up as the game-winning touchdown midway through the 3rd quarter. Salisbury completed 25 of his 32 passing attempts for 310 yards and 4 scores. He was particularly impressive in the first and third quarters when he put the ball in the air 12 times without a single incompletion. Derricks was a force on both defence and special teams. He led all players in the game with 8 ½ tackles (8 solo, 1 assisted). He also recorded two interceptions, taking one back 43 yards for the final score of the night. His 48-yard return of the opening kickoff helped set up Toronto's first touchdown and, more importantly, set the tone for a game dominated in long stretches by the Phantoms. Derricks led all Phantoms with 161 all-purpose yards. Rounding out the scoring on the night for Toronto were Nakia Jenkins and Matt George. Jenkins scored his first career AFL touchdown on an 8-yard catch midway through the 2nd quarter. George successfully converted each of Toronto's 9 touchdowns, but had his lone field goal attempt of the night blocked. With the win, Toronto snaps its 2-game losing streak, improving its record to 4-3 overall and 2-2 on the road. The Phantoms will now prepare to travel to Atlanta for a Sunday night showdown with the Georgia Force. In its previous incarnation as the Nashville Kats, the Force bounced the Phantoms from the 2001 playoffs in a tightly contested quarterfinal. The team relocated to Atlanta during the off-season and has struggled with a 2-5 start to the season. The following week, Toronto will return home to the Air Canada Centre to face the Buffalo Destroyers on Thursday, June 13th. Tickets for that game are now on sale and can be purchased by calling (416) 341-1234 or by logging on to www.torontophantoms.com. Get "Insane for the Game" and be a part of "Thursday Night Gridiron Madness"!
Arena Football League (1987-2008) Stories from June 2, 2002
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- Phantoms Can Kannell - Toronto Phantoms
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