Stealth Lose Season Opener

April 5, 2002 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Wichita Stealth News Release


Wichita, Kansas¾What looked to be a promising start turned into a dismal end for the Wichita Stealth. On their opening drive Mike Burton found Xavier Patterson for a 12-yard completion which eventually led to a field goal by Gus Hauser from 43 yards away to give Wichita the lead 3-0. The Stealth defense then kicked in stopping Peoria's first drive as Walter Church failed to complete a fourth and seven pass to Jermaine Shefield while on the Stealth's 16-yard line.

With the ball back and a 3-0 lead Wichita looked to start another successful drive from their own 16 yard line. It resulted in a frustrating drive as Burton connected twice with Pascal Volz and moved Wichita to the Peoria 8-yard line. The drive ended with no points as Hauser missed a 24-yard field goal and Wichita started an unwanted trend of missed opportunities. Peoria struggled from the beginning, as they were unable to score in the entire first quarter. Wichita ended the first quarter leading 3-0.

Wichita began the second quarter with a bang as Burton connected with Patterson and Willie Grissom to move out of Stealth territory. After a holding call against the Stealth Burton finally found Patterson deep in Pirate territory with a 37 yard completion and touchdown as Patterson shook free to run in untouched. It was Patterson's first touchdown as a member of the Stealth and gave Wichita a 9-0 lead. This would be the last scoring Wichita would see for a while.

Peoria came storming back with 10 unanswered points from a 32-yard field goal bye Todd Kurz and 35 yard run bye Robert Meyer on a sweep play. Peoria led at the half 10-9 and the Stealth starting wondering how they could put points on the board.

The second half was filled with missed opportunities and penalties for the Stealth as Wichita committed 10 penalties for 67 yards. Something Peoria capitalized on. The combination of Walter Church and Ronnie Gordon helped Peoria control the clock and move the ball down the field successfully. Peoria's longest time of possession came near the end of the third quarter as they possessed the ball for six minutes and 17 seconds including a drive ending touchdown pass from Church to Meyer to move the Pirates even further ahead 17-9. Wichita would show some signs of life near the end of the third quarter when Burton connected with Patterson for his second touchdown of the game and Wichita seemed to be right back in it.

The penalties would prove to be the difference, as every time the Stealth got into Pirate territory a penalty would force them backwards. Wichita would eventually fall behind by 12 after a three-yard touchdown run by Brand Campbell and a 28-yard field goal by Kurz. Wichita would have one final push as Carl Richardson made a beautiful one handed interception and returned it for a touchdown to draw Wichita to within six, 27-21. Peoria would shut the door as Wichita went for the two-point conversion but new quarterback Matt Hicks was unable to ---more---

connect with Patterson at the goal line. From there Wichita was forced to try an on-side kick with only one timeout remaining in the game. Peoria recovered the kick at the 11-yard line and ran out the clock to claim their first victory of the season and win the first ever meeting between the two teams 30-21.

A highlight for the Stealth was the impressive play of OL/DL Brian Henderson who was a menace to the Peoria offensive line and quarterback Walter Church who Henderson sacked twice. Henderson made 5 total tackles and never allowed Church to get to comfortable in the pocket.

Wichita missed two field goals and two extra points and didn't get very much production at all on offense. Burton ended the game with 124 yards, two touchdown passes, one interception, and completing only 12 of 24 passes. Walter Church had a great second half, which won him the game MVP award ending with 103 yards passing, 1 touchdown, 1 interception, and 16 of 34 pass completions. The ADT defensive player of the game was Lincoln Dupree who made eight tackles and one interception. Robert Meyer who made two-and-a-half tackles and scored one touchdown on a 35-yard run won the Iron Man Award. The Peoria Prates moved to 1-0 on the season as the Wichita Stealth fell to 0-1. Next up for the Pirates are the Memphis Xplorers as Wichita looks toward the Arkansas Twisters.



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