Phantoms can't get past errors

by Campbell Blake
June 28, 2002 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)

A football game is 60 minutes long, not 58 or even 59, but 60, and that is something the Toronto Phantoms have to understand after falling to the Los Avengers by the score of 58-44 Thursday night. The Phantoms are struggling to win on a consistent basis even after playing what amounted to 58 minutes of solid football. Discipline is a major key to being successful and the Phantoms seem to lack it, and their playoff lives are now in jeopardy.

"You can look at this game and dissect it in a number of way, but the key thing is mentally we beat ourselves. We are our own worst enemy and until we focus and cut out those mental mistakes we are not going to be a good football team," said Phantoms head coach Mark Stoute.

Phantom quarterback Pat O'Hara was solid all evening until it all came crashing down with less than two minutes to go in the fourth quarter. Down by only seven and holding the ball deep in Avenger territory, the unimaginable happened. O'Hara threw the ball into the flats with Kerry Brown waiting to haul it in when all of a sudden Kevin Ingram stepped in front of it and took the interception back 49 yards for the score, which sealed the win for the Avengers.

"The guy made a great play on it. I thought I had a touchdown. Congrats to him, he baited me and I threw it and he made a great play," said O'Hara. "I feel bad about it because he intercepted it, but it was one of those thing where the guy made a great play."

O'Hara finished the evening having completed 22 of 36 passes for 352 yards with four touchdowns and the lone costly interception. The leading receiver for the Phantoms was Damion Harrell with six catches for 91 yards while the leading rusher for the team was Jermaine Younger with four carries for five yards.

During the first half of play, everything seemed to click for Toronto as they found themselves with a 27-24 lead by the end of the second quarter. The highlights of the first half for the Phantoms were touchdown passes of 45 and 43 yards from O'Hara to Charlie Davidson and Ty Law, respectively. The rest of the Phantoms first half scoring came on an eight-yard touchdown pass from O'Hara to Kerry Brown early in the second quarter and two Matt George field goals.

In the second half, the Phantoms jumped on the Avengers early when O'Hara found Brown once again for a score, this time from eight yards out. The rest of the scoring in the game came in the fourth quarter for the Phantoms on a Matt George 21-yard field and a three-yard touchdown run by Ty Law.

For the Avengers, Tony Graziani had a very solid workman-like evening, completing 13 of 22 passes for 191 yards and three touchdowns. Game MVP Kevin Ingram led all Avenger receivers with five catches for 92 yards and a TD to go with his all important interception return late in the fourth quarter. Iron Man of the Game Chad Dukes also had a great night, rushing for 26 yards and a score along with some excellent returns on special teams. Chris Jackson hauled in four catches for 26 yards and a touchdown, and Remi Hamilton also chipped in with a field goal.

"Tonight I thought we played pretty good on defense and special teams. Offensively we struggled at times but that credit goes to Toronto, they did a good job," said Avengers Head Coach Ed Hodgkiss. "We finished strong so I like where we are at."

The rest of the Avenger scoring tells the story of what went wrong for the Phantoms. With the Phantoms up 34-30, Toronto was deep in its own territory with the ball. On what appeared to be a Pat O'Hara fumble into the end zone, which subsequently L.A. lineman Chris Butterfield fell on for the score, actually was knocked out of the hands of the Toronto center by an L.A. player who was clearly offside and kicked into the end zone. The other freak score by L.A. came when the Phantoms were lining up to receive a kickoff and it bounced off the net and was recovered by the unblocked Hopkins for in the endzone to put L.A. up 14 with just under five minutes to go.

With the loss, the Phantoms are in a must win situation for the rest of the season. The key for them is to play strong, disciplined football where no avoidable mistakes occur. The Phantoms have a team that can achieve great things, but at this time, they seem unable to do it. They must change that tendency, or they will find themselves on a golf course in a few weeks rather than being on a football field making the drive for an Arena Bowl championship. That has been their goal all season long, so now is not the time for the Phantoms to throw it away.

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