VooDoo Upends Pittsburgh Power in Second Half
April 21, 2012 - Arena Football League (AFL)
New Orleans VooDoo News Release
NEW ORLEANS - The New Orleans VooDoo (3-3) were able to breathe a sigh a relief after the Pittsburgh Power (2-4) missed a potential game-tying field goal at the end of the regulation, to give the VooDoo a 51-48 victory in The Graveyard on Friday night.
"It was an ugly win; however, a win is a win and to be a good team you have to win ugly games," said VooDoo Head Coach Pat O'Hara. "We are making progress, but we have to keep improving. Offensively we struggled; we will look at the tape and get better.
The win in The Graveyard marks the first time since 2008 that the team has strung together back-to-back wins at home, and in the process placed the VooDoo in a tie for first place in the American South Division entering the bye week. This will be the team's second and final bye week.
Emotions were high with former VooDoo players returning to The Graveyard, most notably P.J. Berry and Derek Cassidy, and even former head coach, Derek Stingley. Berry made his presence felt immediately in the game, returning the opening kickoff for a 57-yard kickoff return. Berry, who led the league in all-purpose yards last season, finished the game with 242 all-purpose yards and had one passing touchdown, one receiving and one return for touchdown.
Cassidy got his first career AFL start against the VooDoo, and finished the game 18-of-27 for 226 yards, 5 touchdowns and 1 interception.
"When you have great players on the field, they are expected to make great plays. We knew that P.J. and the rest of them were going to be ready to play, and we knew that we had to be ready to play," said Alvin Ray Jackson in a post-game interview.
And the VooDoo rose to the occasion. Despite Berry's nice stat line, he was limited to just 4 receptions for 44 yards for the game.
The VooDoo defense made their presence felt recovering a fumble and forcing an interception - both in the second half. This win gives the VooDoo two victories in their last three games.
"Our defense did its job tonight and made plays to keep us in the game," said Kurt Rocco in a post-game interview. "Offensively, we need to improve; I need to improve. I feel our bye week is coming at the right time and I know we will study this film hard."
Rocco threw for 275 yards and five touchdowns, as well as rushed for one touchdown. His favorite target of the night was Greg Ellingson, who caught 8 passes for 107 yards and 2 touchdowns; however, it was Carlese Franklin catching what proved to be the game winning touchdown with 34 seconds left in the game to put the VooDoo up 51-48.
Franklin, who started off the year on the injured reserve list, had his best outing of 2012 with 3 receptions for 71 yards and 2 touchdowns.
The team will be off next week and return to action the following week when they travel to face the Jacksonville Sharks.
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