San Jose nips Rampage, 56-55
May 4, 2003 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
San Jose SaberCats News Release
SAN JOSE, Calif. (May 3, 2003) -- Mark Grieb threw a 9-yard scoring pass to James Roe with four seconds left in regulation then ran for the 2-point conversion to give the San Jose SaberCats (10-4) a come-from-behind 56-55 win over the Grand Rapids Rampage (8-6) on Saturday night at HP Pavilion.
Grieb's last second touchdown pass was his sixth of the game and second to Roe. Grieb completed 21-of-31 attempts for 251 yards and no interceptions to earn game MVP honors.
Rampage quarterback Clint Dolezel tossed his seventh scoring pass of the game, a 3-yard strike to Terrill Shaw, to give Grand Rapids a 55-48 lead with 34 seconds left in the game.
Kevin McKenzie got the SaberCats within striking distance for the game-winner by returning the ensuing kickoff 49 yards to the Rampage 9-yard line. Following a rushing attempt for no gain and an incomplete pass, Grieb connected with Hundon. Grieb faked a handoff to McKenzie on the 2-point try and ran into the corner of the endzone untouched for the game-winning points.
San Jose struck first when Grieb connected with Hundon on a 22-yard pass play just 55 seconds into the game. Hundon had six receptions for 55 yards and three scores to match Jerry Reese as the team's career touchdown reception leader with 76.
Grand Rapids tied the game on its first possession when Dolezel hit Shaw on a 23-yard scoring play.
The game was tied 14-14 after the first quarter, 21-21 at half and 35-35 entering the fourth quarter. In all, there were five ties in the contest between the evenly matched squads.
San Jose defensive specialist Clevan Thomas tied the team record for interceptions in a season when he pilfered his league-leading 11th of the campaign in the second quarter. Thomas matched the 1998 record set by Tommy Jones.
The SaberCats rushed for 35 yards on the night increasing their season total to 557, currently the 10th highest single-season total in league history.
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Arena Football League (1987-2008) Stories from May 4, 2003
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- San Jose nips Rampage, 56-55 - San Jose SaberCats
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