SaberCats Rally For 52-43 Win Over Tampa Bay
April 7, 2006 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
San Jose SaberCats News Release
TAMPA, Fla. - Phil Glover and Brian Johnson each scored a pair of rushing touchdowns and defensive specialist Omarr Smith returned an interception 16 yards for a score to rally the San Jose SaberCats (5-6) past the Tampa Bay Storm (6-5) in an Arena Football League game Friday night.
Rookie JaJuan Huddleston scored his 1st career touchdown and Barry Wagner added his AFL career-best 126th rushing touchdown for the SaberCats, who tied a league record by scoring six times on the ground.
Tampa Bay quarterback Shane Stafford threw three first half scoring passes, including a 9-yard strike to Freddie Solomon with :03 left to give the Storm a 23-21 lead at the intermission.
Huddleston's 2nd career rush attempt resulted in a 3-yard score giving the SaberCats a 35-29 lead after three quarters.
Stafford connected with Lynarise Elpheage and Solomon on consecutive possessions to start the fourth quarter helping the Storm to a 43-35 lead with just under nine minutes remaining in the game.
But the SaberCats scored 17 points in the next 3:33 to pull out the win. Johnson scored for the second time on a 1-yard run and Grieb added the two-point conversion on a nifty boot leg to forge a 43-43 tie.
On Tampa Bay's next possession, Smith stepped in front of a Stafford offering intended for Solomon and went 16-yards the other way for the go-ahead touchdown. Demetrius Bendross had the ball stripped by Marquis Floyd on the ensuing kickoff and Tampa's Alphonso Roundtree was tackled in the endzone by Charles Pauley for safety giving San Jose its final margin.
In what was billed as a dual of the top passing QBs in the league, San Jose's Mark Grieb did not throw a touchdown pass for the first time in his career as a starting quarterback but did completed 20-of-36 passes for 223 yards. Tampa's Stafford finished the night 23-of-39 for 252 yards and six scores but was intercepted twice.
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