Rhinos Ruin Richmond's Title Run
July 27, 2002 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Carolina Rhinos News Release
GREENVILLE, SC â The arenafootball2's Carolina Rhinos took their first and only lead of the game with 1:00 left in the fourth quarter and held on to beat the Richmond Speed 63-59 at home Saturday. The win, combined with road win by the Cape Fear Wildcats over the Charleston Swamp Foxes, ended Richmond's chances of winning the Atlantic Division Championship and means the Speed will open the af2 ArenaCup Playoffs on the road in Cape Fear next weekend.
The win was the third straight at home for the Rhinos, as well as their second in a row and third in the last four games overall. With the win, the Rhinos finished the 2002 season, their third in af2, in third place in the Eastern Division with a 5-11 record including 4-4 at home.
The teams traded scores nine times with Richmond scoring first and the Rhinos answering on each occasion. They matched one another touchdown-for-touchdown the first eight times with two missed point-after kicks and a pair of two-point conversions by the Rhinos accounting for the only time the game had anything other than a tie score or a seven-point margin until the final two-plus minutes of play. On the ninth occasion, Richmond kicked a field goal with 2:20 remaining in the game but attempted an unsuccessful onsides kick afterwards giving the Rhinos the ball on the Speed ten yard line and setting up the winning score, a one-yard plunge by quarterback Caleb Slover.
Richmond led 14-7 after the first quarter, 35-28 at halftime and 49-48 through three periods.
Nick Johnson of the Rhinos took most valuable player honors in the game with six catches for 127 yards and three touchdowns, as well as three kick returns for 61 yards. Teammate Arkee Thompson was the ADT defensive player of the game with two solo tackles, one assisted tackle, two interceptions and four broken up passes including a pair of key plays in the game's closing moments as Richmond turned the ball over on downs deep in Carolina territory with less than ten seconds to play. Richmond's Kevin Harvey was named the game's Ironman.
Ramone Robinson rotated with Slover at quarterback for the Rhinos and led the team with five rushes for 13 yards and one touchdown along with 12 completions for 140 yards and three touchdowns. Slover had two carries for four yards and the game-winning touchdown along with seven completions for 130 yards and three touchdowns. Bob Bees and Kevin Harvey paced Richmond offensively. Bees completed 20 passes for 272 yards and six touchdowns while Harvey ran six times for 52 yards and caught 11 passes for 113 yards and one touchdown.
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