SaberCats edge Force, 68-62
June 22, 2008 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
San Jose SaberCats News Release
SAN JOSE, Calif. (June 21, 2008) - Quarterback Mark Grieb threw nine touchdown passes, to finish the 2008 regular season with a league-high 100, leading the San Jose SaberCats to a 68-62 victory over the Georgia Force in an Arena Football League game Saturday night.
Grieb threw for 354 yards on 27-of-36 passing and became just the second quarterback in AFL history to throw for 100 touchdowns in consecutive seasons. His 11-yard scoring pass to Cleannord Saintil with 5:35 left in the fourth quarter was the game winner.
Saintil tied a team record with seven touchdown receptions and totaled 155 yards on 12 catches. Rodney Wright had 10 receptions for San Jose for 134 yards and a score while amassing 249 all-purpose yards.
Georgia quarterback Chris Greisen threw for 390 yards and eight touchdowns completing 23-of-33 passes. Carl Morris saw the most of the workload, catching 10 passes for 182 yards and four touchdowns.
With the Force leading 28-14 and driving, San Jose's Omarr Smith stepped in front of a Greisen offering in his own endzone and returned the ball to the Georgia 16 yard line.
Saintil would score his third touchdown of the game on the following possession cutting the SaberCats deficit to seven points and Clevan Thomas would return another Greisen interception 35 yards for a score on the ensuing possession to tie the score, 28-28, with less than a minute left in the first half.
Wright's only touchdown of the game came on a 39-yard reception on San Jose's opening second half possession giving the SaberCats a 42-35 lead.
The teams would trade touchdowns the entire second half with Saintil's team record seventh providing the final margin.
Thomas snared his second interception of the game, and 50th of his career, with about a minute remaining in the game. San Jose would run out the clock to secure its sixth straight win.
Both teams finish the year as Division Champions (San Jose in the West and Georgia in the South) and will enjoy a first round bye next week. Georgia is locked into the number two spot in the National Conference, while San Jose would clinch home field throughout the playoffs and the number one seed in the American Conference with a Dallas win in Chicago tomorrow afternoon.
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