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Storm Get Back on Track

April 2, 2005 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
Tampa Bay Storm News Release


TAMPA BAY -- The Tampa Bay Storm continued their excellent play at home as they improved to 5-0 during the 2005 campaign and ended a two-game losing streak with a 48-38 win against the Southern Division leading Georgia Force Saturday night in front of 15,114 fans at the St. Pete Times Forum.

One week after going three for seven in the redzone in a loss at Los Angeles, Tampa Bay came alive from inside the ten against Georgia going six for seven. The Storm responded well overall on offense, almost doubling their point total of 29 from the previous week. The Storm also recovered a season-high four fumbles and intercepted one Matt Nagy pass for a total of five takeaways.

On the game's opening drive not even a holding penalty could stop the Storm offense from scoring first for the seventh consecutive game. A four-yard touchdown pass from Shane Stafford to Freddie Solomon put the Storm up 6-0. A Matt George extra point made it 7-0.

Georgia started their first possession at their own five-yard line. A personal foul on Jonathan Ordway on third down set the Force up at the Storm 17 where Kevin Aldridge took a hand-off from Nagy and rumbled 17 yards into the end zone to tie the game.

On the next drive a 43-yard pass from Stafford to Solomon set the Tampa Bay offense up at the one-yard line. The pass was the longest completion of the season for Stafford and the longest reception by Solomon. Three Umar Muhammad runs from the one failed to net six points and the Storm settled for a 18-yard George field goal to give them a 10-7 lead with 2:18 remaining in the first quarter.

On the ensuing kickoff Troy Bergeron fumbled the return at the Storm 12-yard line on a strip from Ricky Hall and Anthony Derricks wasted no time in jumping on the loose ball. The Storm didn't hold on to the ball very long as Muhammad fumbled the ball at the Force 21 and Georgia recovered to give the ball back to their offense.

The Force offense made the Storm pay quickly as Nagy connected with Derek Lee for a 16-yard touchdown strike to open the second quarter. Tampa Bay jumped back on top after three plays generated six points on an 11-yard touchdown strike from Stafford to Clif Dell.

Georgia took back the lead on the next drive with a 25-yard touchdown pass from Nagy to Bergeron to give them a 21-17 lead. On third down from the four-yard line Stafford swept around the end to the one for the first down. The run set up a one-yard touchdown run by Umar Muhammad to give the Storm a 24-21 lead with 3:47 remaining in the first half.

Nagy then took Georgia down the field and connected with Luke Leverson for a 22-yard touchdown toss on their next possession to take back the lead. With one minute remaining in the second quarter Georgia recovered an on-side kick but an illegal block by the Force gave the Storm the ball.

Two plays into the drive Stafford found Solomon in the back of the end zone for a five-yard touchdown catch. The touchdown put the Storm back on top 31-28 with 49 seconds remaining in the half.

On the kickoff Tampa Bay attempted an on-side kick of their own. Lynaris Elpheage recovered the kick at the Storm 20-yard line to give the Storm the football with 39 seconds left in the half. Two plays into the Storm drive Elpheage was rewarded with a 30-yard touchdown pass from Stafford that gave the Storm a 38-28 advantage with 32 seconds left in the half.

Force kicker Nelson Garner connected from 40 yards yard out as time expired on the first half to pull Georgia to within seven at 38-31.

On the opening drive of the second half Nagy fumbled the exchange from center Juan Porter and after a mad scramble Tramain Jones hopped on the loose ball for the Storm's second fumble recovery of the game. Tampa Bay drove the ball to the Force one yard-line and elected to go for it on fourth down, but a Stafford shovel pass to Muhammad fell to the turf and Georgia took over.

The teams would exchange turnovers again when Mike Sutton reached up from his defensive end position and picked off the first pass of his career, a Nagy pass at the 12-yard line. He returned the interception to the Georgia eight. Three plays later Montgomery intercepted a Stafford pass in the back of the end zone to return the ball to his offense with 1:07 left in the third quarter.

On the next drive Aldridge took a handoff and fumbled the ball. The ball eluded several players before going out of the back of the end zone and the Storm took over. Dell caught his second touchdown pass of the game from six yards out when Stafford found him near the pylon. With 8:32 remaining in the game the Storm were clinging to a 45-31 lead.

After a roughing the passer penalty that had Nyle Wiren ejected from the game, the Force offense found themselves in the redzone with a chance to pull within seven. The Storm defense forced a fourth down when Derek Lee bobbled a ball before going over the wall. Jonathan Ordway then broke up a fourth down pass to Lee to give the ball back to the Storm with three minutes left in the game.

The Tampa Bay offense marched down the field to the 13-yard line where George kicked a 21-yard field goal to seal the game for the Storm. They now led 48-31. The Force scored one last touchdown from three yards with a touchdown reception from Bergeron, but it was too little too late for Georgia as they still trailed 48-38 with just eight ticks remaining. The Storm recovered the on-side kick and ran out the clock for their fifth win of the season.

The win gives the Storm a record of 5-4 going into a pivotal match-up with the Orlando Predators this Saturday at 7:30 p.m. (Sun Sports, 620 WDAE). Orlando downed Tampa Bay, 61-46, in Orlando earlier in the season.



Arena Football League (1987-2008) Stories from April 2, 2005


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