Pioneers Come Back To Beat Florida
June 28, 2008 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers News Release
The Wilkes-Barre/ Scranton Pioneers came back from 21 points down in the second half to defeat the Florida Firecats 59-56 on a Dave Davis 19 yard field goal as time expired at the Germain Arena in Florida in front of 4,279 stunned Firecats fans.
Wilkes-Barre/ Scranton outscored the Firecats 17-0 in the fourth quarter to spoil the return of Magic Benton to the af2. Benton led all receivers with 14 catches 188 yards and four touchdowns.
Trailing 56-35, Larry Kendrick caught his second touchdown of the night as time expired in the third quarter. Then Pioneers defense stepped up in the fourth quarter forcing the Firecats to turn it over on downs and Ryan Vena, who would finish the game 23-31 for 308 yards and seven touchdowns, quickly found JJ Outlaw for a score, Chris Wallace fumbled as he was sacked four plays later, Isaac Hilton picked up the ball a bulled his way to paydirt to tie the score at 56-56. Micheaux Robinson then intercepted a Wallace pass in the endzone to give the Pioneers the ball for the game-winning drive.
Florida scored on their first drive of the second half and then the Firecats defense forced the Pioneers into a four and out. Wallace quickly took the ball into the endzone with Wallace finding Magic Benton for his third score of the game. Ryan Vena was then intercepted by the raging Firecats defense with Wallace finding Benton making his fourth TD catch. But from there on out it was all Pioneers.
The first half was an offensive affair with two of the best scoring defenses only picking up one stop a piece. The Firecats forcing a Pioneers' fumble in the first quarter and the Pioneers defense forcing Florida into a missed field goal.
Ryan Vena was perfect in the first half going 15 of 15 with five touchdown passes, finding JJ Outlaw three times in the endzone. The third score coming on a short catch and a long run sprung by a huge block by Larry Kendrick. Vena was also able to find Rich Musinski in the corner of the endzone for a spectacular touchdown catch draped over the boards. Larry Kendrick would grab Vena's fifth touchdown toss of the half.
The magic was back in the first half for the Firecats with Magic Benton catching two touchdown passes in his first game back with Florida this season. Quarterback Chris Wallace ran in a quarterback sneak as the first half buzzer rang to tie the score at 35-35.
The Pioneers will be on bye next week before returning home for Biker Night Saturday July 12th versus the Peoria Pirates at 7:30. For tickets visit the Wachovia Arena box office or call the Pioneers at 970-4232 and ask about playoff packages or hop onto www.wbspioneers.com.
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