Flag Day Part 2

Michael Wright
Friday July 7, 2000

The Myriad Arena, home of the Oklahoma Wranglers, is just down the street from what Oklahoma City locals call “Brick Town,” due to the area’s rejuvenation. Monday night they had a big fireworks show planned at Brick Town for the good citizens of OKC. However, before those pyrotechnics could be set off, another smaller display was going on inside Myriad Arena.

A fortnight ago, (Wimbledon reference ya’ll), the Oklahoma Wranglers and the Arizona Rattlers had played a hard fought penalty-laden game that Arizona won 42-28. Now, back at home, the Pharaohs-Dragons-Wranglers were looking for revenge. Coming off a tainted victory against Iowa where Barnstormer QB Aaron Garcia was knocked out of the game, the OK Cowboys had a head of steam after braking a four game losing skid. Oklahoma is no longer the most penalized team in the AFL, San Jose (702 yards) is, but OK is the second most penalized team (661yards) and trying hard to get back to number one…

Ron Lopez struggled and was pulled in favor of Jeff Loots, who fared no better Image courtesy of Mike Wright

I was only in OKC for a couple days, and I’m still try to stop sayin’ ya’ll… And I learned a lot about OKC during the brief time I was there; did you know that they have an Official State chew? No smokin ya`ll…

A good crowd was on hand and was in a festive mood, it being the Fourth of July and all. This one cowboy in the endzone was havin’ a grand time gettin’ in the AZ players faces everytime they’d come down to that end. I do believe his Daddy should have told him not to poke the animals.

Arizona held OK to three points in the first quarter with physical play that set the pace for the rest of the game. Oklahoma QB Ron Lopez was hurried all night and often wound up on his back before being replaced by Jeff Loots in the third quarter.

OK failed to score in the third quarter altogether, which brought the frustration level to the breaking point. I’ve never seen a coaching staff lose control of a team. Nevertheless, this is clearly what happened: Three straight penalties, a false start and two unsportsmanlike conducts and the ejection of #98 Eric Drakes.

I look for changes to take place in the coaching staff; it is obvious that something should to be done. The fourth quarter was better for Oklahoma, but the damage was done – they could not recover their dignity or the lead losing 29-56.

Notable Stats:

Arizona QB Sherdrick Bonner was named MVP and was 16 of 29 for 185 yards and 7 TD’s. Maurice Byant did not play (back) which was a lucky break for Oklahoma.

Lopez was a dismal 15 of 25 for 148 yards and 2 TD’s in three-quarters of play. QB Jeff Loots was 9 of 14 for 115 yards and 2 TD’s.

Oklahoma was penalized sixteen times for 97 yards…

 

The opinions expressed in the article above are only those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts, opinions, or official stance of ArenaFan Online or its staff, or the Arena Football League, or any AFL or af2 teams.

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Flag Day Part 2 7/7/2000
Flag Day in Arizona 6/18/2000
Hooray for Hollywood 6/11/2000
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