San Jose defeats Tampa Bay in Quarterfinals
August 3, 2002 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
San Jose SaberCats News Release
SAN JOSE, Calif - The San Jose SaberCats and the Tampa Bay Storm just don't like dull games.
And for the second time in the 2002 Arena Football League season, the two clubs played a hotly contested and thrilling game down to the finish.
San Jose defensive back Barry Wagner slapped away Storm quarterback Shane Stafford's futile pitch to David Saunders with no time remaining as the SaberCats defeated Tampa Bay, 55-48, in the quarterfinals of the Arena Bowl XVI playoffs on Saturday at the Compaq Center.
With the victory, San Jose, the AFL's top seed coming into the playoffs, will play the lowest-seeded team left in the semifinal round on Saturday at noon.
"We got the pressure and (Stafford) got flushed out (of the pocket). The recievers bunched up in one spot so what they did was come across," Wagner said. "I was in a zone and I got on the side of (Saunders). When he missed (the pass), I knocked it down."
On April 27 in Tampa Bay, the SaberCats' Bob McMillan intercepted a Stafford pass with under a minute to play and returned it 46 yards for a touchdown giving San Jose a 61-54.
Wagner's heroic effort capped a wild game that saw the SaberCats outscore the Storm 28-3 over the final 21 minutes to erase a 45-27 deficit.
Quarterback John Dutton got San Jose off to another rollicking start as his 14-yard touchdown pass to Shalon Baker two minutes into the second quarter gave the SaberCats a 20-10 lead.
For the rest of the half, the two teams took diverging paths. While the San Jose offense sputtered until its third quarter resurgence, Stafford - with two touchdown passes to David Saunders and one to Lawrence Samuels over the final 11 minutes of the half - picked apart the SaberCats' secondary with relative ease.
Stafford twice slipped the ball past defensive back Anothy Cobbs and into the waiting hands of his recievers for touchdowns.
Wagner broke the SaberCats scoring slump with a one-yard run with 37 seconds remaining in the half. The 27 first-half points was the second lowest scored by San Jose this year.
Individually, Dutton, who took control of the SaberCats starting job when Mark Grieb fractured his collarbone against Arizona last month, finished the first half on shaky ground. Dutton opened the game completing eight of nine passes but finished the half hitting on just two of eight.
The SaberCats' poor fortunes flowed into the second half when Dutton was sacked by Storm linebacker Darion Conner in his own end zone for a safety.
On the next drive, Stafford again hit Samuels with a touchdown pass, this time it was a 45-yard strike as Stafford beat Cobbs off the line and caught the pass uncontested.
Samuels' harrassment wasn't over. Moments later, he intercepted a short pass intended for fullback Bob McMillan and returned the errant ball 17 yards for a touchdown.
With their team down 45-27, SaberCats fans had had little to cheer about.
That was until the crucial connection of Dutton to Wagner snapped San Jose out of its offensive coma and the Compaq Center shaking with excitement.
On third-and-six, Dutton dropped back and hooked up with Wagner on a 9-yard touchdown pass.
The fervor over Wagner's touchdown seemed to equate on the defensive end as well. The SaberCats defense pinned the Storm near its own end zone and forced a 55-yard field goal attempt from kicker Pete Elezovic.
Elezovic missed and after getting the ball back on his own five, Dutton orchestrated a four play drive that resulted in a 15-yard touchdown pass to James Hundon.
The strut contuinued into the fourth quarter.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, Wagner leaped up in the end zone to intercept a pass intended for Saunders.
The pick helped set up an equally remarkable touchdown catch by Wagner. On first-and-goal from the Tampa Bay 10-yard line, Wagner, with his back to the play, made a jumping, over-the-shoulder grab behind the two defenders of a Dutton touchdown pass. The score gave San Jose a 48-45 lead.
"We didn't make the plays in the fourth quarter," Storm head coach Tim Marcum said of San Jose's 21 unanswered points. "They took one away from us and then had the interception. We led by 18 points and then handed it to them. They came from behind."
With just under three minutes to play, Stafford drove the Storm down to San Jose 24-yard line to set up a 39-yard Elezovic field goal. San Jose broke the deadlock one minute later when James Roe hauled in a 34-yard touchdown pass from Dutton.
With one minute remaining, Stafford and Tampa steadily marched down the field to set up the final drive.
On first-and-goal from the one, Stafford took a knee for a timeout.
On second down, Stafford charged forward but without any positve yards.
Basil Procter fared no better on his handoff on third down.
And with no time on the clock, Stafford, rolling left out of the pocket, shoveled a pass to Saunders only to be denied.
"I thought they would get some kind of bootleg and maybe go to the tight end on that last play," San Jose head coach Darren Arbet said. "The lineman came out but we had a lot of pressure on them and Barry had nice coverage on them."
San Jose improved to 14-1on the year.
Most Valuable Player Dutton finished the game 24-for-38 passing with six touchdowns and a franchise playoff best 327 yards
Wagner caught six passes for 64 yards and three touchdowns.
Arena Football League (1987-2008) Stories from August 3, 2002
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