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Storm Fall on Road, Force Clinch Division

May 8, 2005 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
Tampa Bay Storm News Release


ATLANTA -- The Tampa Bay Storm controlled their own destiny on Sunday as they took on the Georgia Force at Phillips Arena. With an Orlando loss on Saturday a win against the Force would have put Tampa Bay in first place in the Southern Division with control of their own destiny. After a 46-34 loss at the hands of the Force Tampa Bay must now get some help to make it to the post season for the 15th time and Georgia has clinched the Southern Division Championship.

Storm WR/LB Lawrence Samuels caught six passes for 93 yards and two touchdowns. Demetris Bendross also caught two touchdowns for the Storm who are now 8-6. With the loss the Storm fell to 1-6 on the road in 2005 and the Force avoided losing two consecutive games for the first time this season. Quarterback Shane Stafford completed 19 passes for 297 yards and five touchdowns. Georgia WR/LB Chris Jackson caught 12 passes for 130 yards and two touchdowns. He also returned a kickoff for a score and WR/DB Ricky Parker had two interceptions.

Tampa Bay got the ball first and wasted no time driving the down the field with a 28-yard pass to Lawrence Samuels and a 17-yard touchdown pass from Stafford to Demetris Bendross. It was his second touchdown grab in as many games. The Storm missed the extra point after the snap was bobbled. Georgia came right back with a seven-yard touchdown strike to Troy Bergeron, but Nelson Garner hit the upright with the extra point and the game remained even as six.

After a pass interference call on first and goal the Storm tried to run the ball but lost yardage on the play. The Force stopped the Storm on second down and on third down Stafford threw a jump ball to WR Ronney Daniels and Force DB Ricky Parker and Parker won the battle for the interception. The first quarter ended with the score tied at six with the Georgia offense on their own five. Georgia then took the lead for the first time in the game as they capped a 45-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown run by Robert Thomas with 10:30 remaining in the second quarter.

It took the Storm two plays to jump right back into the game as Stafford connected with Bendross again from 14 yards out for his second touchdown grab of the game. They failed to tie the game though as Matt George rang the attempt off the upright and the Force clung to a 13-12 lead. The Force extended their lead to eight points on the ensuing drive when Matt Nagy hit receiver Jackson with a five-yard touchdown pass.

With just over 10 seconds left on the clock George connected on a 23-yard field goal to cut the Force lead to five points. Garner missed a 53-yard field goal as time expired and the first half ended with the Storm trailing, 15-20.

Georgia got the ball to start the second half and the Force drove down the field and opened up an 11-point lead with a four-yard touchdown pass from Nagy to Bergeron. They now held a 26-15 lead with 8:39 left in the third. Georgia took the ball right back as Stafford attempted to go deep to Bendross but Parker took the ball away from Bendross for his second interception of the game.

The Storm defense could not get a stop on the following drive as Jackson ran the ball in from the three to extend the Georgia lead by six. Garner missed the extra point and the Force lead the Storm 32-15 with less than four minutes remaining in the third quarter. The Storm offense got the ball on the five-yard line needing to put points on the board. It took two plays for Tampa Bay to put up six of them. After a completion to Clif Dell got the Storm to their own 16 Stafford then connected with Lawrence Samuels for a 34-yard touchdown pass. Dell was stopped short of the end zone on the two-point conversion after the touchdown. The deficit was back to 11 points.

The Storm got an enormous break as Samuels recovered a George on-side kick and the Storm offense went back to work. After a 17-yard completion to Dell got the Storm a first down, the clock ran out on the third quarter and with 15 minutes left to play Georgia held an 11-point lead. Tampa Bay continued to eat away at the Force lead as Stafford connected with Samuels for a six-yard touchdown. The Storm again went for two points but failed to find the end zone. With 11:48 left on the clock the Storm trailed, 27-32.

The Force wasted no time in putting six points back on the board for themselves as Jackson found a seam on the kickoff return and brought it back 55-yards for a touchdown. With the extra point the Force led, 39-27. The Storm offense again found the offense early in their next drive. On their second play from scrimmage Stafford found Daniels on a post pattern and he made the catch with a defender draped all over him in the back of the end zone for a 35-yard touchdown grab. With 9:14 remaining in the game, and down by five, the Storm needed a big stop from their defense.

It took the Force two plays to find the end zone again as Nagy hooked up with Jackson for his second receiving touchdown of the game, this one from 27 yards. It appeared the Storm had again found the end zone, but Daniels was called for offensive pass interference for pushing off and the play came back for first and 20. On second down Stafford slipped past the Force rush and found Lynaris Elpheage for 16 yards. An incompletion on third down brought up an important fourth down, but Stafford's pass to Bendross found the seats and Georgia took over on downs.

The Force put the nail in the coffin with 29.3 seconds left in the game when Chris Jackson caught a pass and leaped over Storm DS Tramain Jones for a seven-yard touchdown reception. Stafford connected with Dell to put another Storm touchdown on the board but it was too little too late and the Force clinched the Southern Division crown with the win and a New Orleans loss.

Tampa Bay returns to the St. Pete Times Forum this weekend where they are 7-0 this season, for what will be another "must-win" game. This time they'll take on the New York Dragons at 1:00 on NBC needing a win to keep pace in the competitive Southern Division. Tickets are available at all Ticketmaster outlets, the McDonald's Box Office at the St. Pete Times Form and at TampaBayStorm.com.

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