'Tide Rips through Central Valley, 63-49
July 11, 2004 - arenafootball2 (af2)
San Diego Riptide News Release
FRESNO, Calif. âThe Riptide snapped their two game losing streak with a victory last night against the Central Valley Coyotes in Selland Arena, 63-49, in front of a crowd of 4344 people. The game featured a total of only 212 yards of offense by the Riptide, their lowest since Week 1. Quarterback Kevin Feterik made his first appearance since Week 2 to lead the Riptide to victory, completing 18-of-24 passes for 188 yards and taking home Baby Ruth Offensive Player of the Game Honors.
The low offensive production for both teams in last night's game was not reflected by the high score. This was the first time since Week 12 that the Riptide broke the 60 point marker. San Diego found the end zone only three times through the air and featured another game with no receivers receiving over 100 yards. However, San Diego managed to pound the ball into the end zone four times on the ground. The last time the âTide had four rushing touchdowns was in their last meeting with the Coyotes in Week 10. Central Valley put up a good fight early on, down by just seven points at the half. The team was led by quarterback Juston Wood. Wood managed to complete 21-of-35 passes, threw one interception, but also found the end zone seven times, scoring all the points for the Coyotes.
The first quarter featured a game of offensive tag featuring three scores in a matter of three minutes. Rich Ehmke struck first with a 29-yard field goal in the opening drive of the game. Central Valley answered quickly with a touchdown pass from Wood to Marvin Brown on their first play of the game. San Diego took the lead back when Jesus Reyes returned the kickoff for a touchdown. On the next kickoff, which found the Coyotes starting on the Riptide five, Wood threw a touchdown pass to Kenyatte Morgan. The Riptide closed out the quarter, 16-14, after Feterik connected with Reyes on a 16 yard touchdown pass.
Central Valley took the lead early in the second quarter after Wood connected with LaMonte Jones on a six yard touchdown pass after six plays. The âTide scored on a Ryan Cuthbert two yard run, but Rich Ehmke missed the PAT to leave San Diego up by only one. Wood struck again, completing a three yard touchdown pass to Brown. But the Riptide would end the half on top. Feterik connected with Reyes on a 35 yard touchdown pass with 47 seconds left in the quarter. The Coyotes turned the ball over quickly and Feterik managed to make his first rushing touchdown of the season to close out the half with the âTide on top, 35-28.
The third quarter was not a scoring affair like the first half with both teams finding the end zone only once each. Feterik connected with Reyes for the second time in the game. However, Ehmke missed the PAT for the third time in the game. For the Coyotes, Morgan caught an 18 yard pass from Wood after five plays. The Coyotes were within six at the end of the quarter.
San Diego put the game away in the fourth quarter. The Riptide found the end zone twice on the ground. Cuthbert scored first with a two yard run, bringing his total to nine rushing touchdowns on the season. International player, Takamasa Suzuki chipped in with his first touchdown of the season on a one yard run into the end zone. Brown threw two touchdown passes in the quarter, connecting with Brown for the third time and Jones for the second time. Nakoa McElrath put the nail in the coffin after scoring on a kickoff return in the last seconds of the game giving the Riptide a 63-49 victory and snapping San Diego's losing streak.
Baby Ruth Real Deal Offensive Player of the Game: Kevin Feterik (SDG) U.S. Army Ironman of the Game: Jesus Reyes (SDG) ADT Defensive Player of the Game: Darnell Lacy (CEN)
Shark Bites: The Riptide with the 2004 series against the Coyotes 3-0... This was the first time Kane Claunch did not participate in the game... Kevin Feterik scored his first rushing touchdown against the Coyotes... Feterik received Offensive Player of the Game Honors for the first time this season... Feterik scored a season high three touchdowns... Takamasa Suzuki scored his first career touchdown with the Riptide... Jesus Reyes scored his second kickoff return this season... Reyes has scored six touchdowns in his past three games... Nakoa McElrath returned his first kickoff for a touchdown this season... This was the first time since Week 10 that Ryan Smith did not record a take-away... Ryan Cuthbert tied his season high two touchdowns... The âTide had two takeaways and gave only one away to continue with a positive takeaway ratio... This was the fourth straight week the Riptide did not allow any sacks... This was the first time in seven weeks the Riptide did not score more points than their opponent in the third quarter... The 13 rushing plays by the âTide is a game high...
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