Renegades Return Home to Defeat Rivals 42-35
June 23, 2007 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Lubbock Renegades News Release
Lubbock, Texas - The Lubbock Renegades played at home for the first time since May 26th and improved to 5-6 on the 2007 af2 campaign with a 42-35 victory over the Amarillo Dusters Saturday night in front of 4,021 at City Bank Coliseum. Lubbock's stingy defense and Alvance Robinson's three touchdown receptions for 94 yards in the first half put the Renegades in the driver's seat early and they never trailed throughout the contest.
The Renegades defense shutout the Dusters in the opening quarter and limited the Dusters to a pair of touchdowns through their first six possessions. A Steve Bergeski touchdown reception and a Steve Panella rushing touchdown were the only scores for the Dusters through the six opening possessions. Bergeski's touchdown came on the first play of the second quarter and Panella's marker gave him his 15th rushing touchdown to lead all af2 quarterbacks. Both tallies were produced in the second quarter to hold Lubbock's lead to 28-14 at the half. Lubbock had no problems out of the gate offensively, as they converted on five of their first six drives with five touchdowns. They included Robinson's three scores, along with a Victor Mann rushing touchdown and a trip to the endzone by John King. The touchdown to King came on Lubbock's first possession of the second half to give the Renegades a 35-14 lead.
A late charge by the Dusters came with three scores in the second half, as a successful on-side kick eventually led to a touchdown catch by Bergeski. Amarillo scored twice more with tight end Vinnie Olsen and receiver Tim Wilkins finding the endzone via receptions from Panella. The Dusters held Lubbock to a Joey Hawkins eight-yard touchdown reception for their only points of the final quarter and tried to get back into the contest following a fumble recovery, but the comeback bid came too late. A second on-side kick attempt with less than three seconds left resulted in an Amarillo penalty to end the game.
On the defensive side of the ball, Lubbock's James McCoy finished with nine total tackles, four pass breakups, and an interception for 11 yards. Amarillo's David Ihedigbo also recorded an interception, a pass breakup, two total tackles, and blocked a field goal attempt as well. Robinson only had three receptions and all resulted into touchdown receptions. His 48-yard reception is the longest by a Renegades receiver this season.
Robert Kent completed 15 of 26 passes for 238 yards and five touchdowns in the Renegades win. The Renegades only ran 36 offensive plays in the win, while the Dusters ran 55 plays. Panella completed 23 of his 49 pass attempts for 254 yards and completed four touchdown passes.
The win gives Lubbock the I-27 series, as they won two of the three regular season meetings against Amarillo. Lubbock also helps their playoff chances with the win. They are now tied with Alabama for the eighth and final playoff spot in the National Conference standings, but if the season ended today, Lubbock would not qualify because of Alabama's strength of schedule, which is the current deciding factor.
The deciding factor could change this week since the Renegades are on the road facing the Texas Copperheads. One of the tie breakers between Lubbock and Alabama is their record against common opponents, and since Texas is a common opponent, a win by Lubbock would give them a better record against common opponents (both teams are currently 1-1 against common opponents, which forces strength of schedule to be the resulting tie breaker determinant).
Lubbock's road tilt against the Texas Copperheads is scheduled for Saturday at 7:30 p.m. from Cypress in the Houston area. They will return to the City Bank Coliseum to face the Tulsa Talons on Saturday, July 7, with a 7:00 p.m. kick-off.
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