Rattlers Build Momentum with Win over Crush
Brian Knapp
Tuesday March 18, 2003
Through two quarters, the Rattlers played a little sluggish, as they headed into the half down by three. However, Arizona scored 42 of the game’s final 54 points en route to a 72-45 victory.
Rattler quarterback Sherdrick Bonner had one of his best outings of the season, as he ripped the Crush for 275 yards and 7 touchdowns. Two of those touchdowns fell in the hands of now former Arizona Rattler Chris Horn.
Horn played in his final game in a Rattler uniform on Sunday, as he heads to Kansas City for a tryout with the NFL’s Chiefs. “It’s tough for me, I love playing here (Arizona),” said Horn. “But at the same time, I feel like I have to take a shot at it (NFL).”
With Horn gone, it’s going to be up to the veterans to carry this team for the rest of the season. “All those guys, Hunkie, Bonner, Gatewood, they’ve been players in this league for a long time, and that’s not going to stop,” said Horn.
Bonner showed how he could help, as he hit five different receivers for touchdowns on Sunday. This told Arizona fans that it’s time for other players to step it up a notch to compensate for the loss of a superstar like Horn.
The Rattlers got some help from the Crush in the second half, as Colorado couldn’t find a way to stop Arizona’s pass rush.
Two consecutive holding penalties on OL/DL Cyron Brown cost Colorado a touchdown, which would have pulled the Crush to within one score of the Rattlers. The blame doesn’t belong solely on the hands of Brown, as the Crush committed an AFL-record 21 penalties against Arizona.
Following the turnover on downs, the Rattlers got the ball back and FB/LB Frank Trentadue scored on the very next play. So, instead of trailing by only five, the Crush were looking at an ugly 19-point deficit with ten minutes remaining.
The final blow for the Crush came on the very next drive, as Rattler DS Ricky Parker intercepted a pass by Crush QB John Dutton. Again, the turnover led to a Rattler touchdown as rookie WR Tom Pace caught a 44-yard touchdown pass from Bonner. “I think the nail in the coffin was Ricky’s interception, and then Pace’s touchdown,” said White.
Going into the game, most people expected Colorado OS Damien Harrell to pose a huge threat. This was not the case, however, as Harrell caught an uncharacteristic 2 passes for just 23 yards.
The bright spot for Colorado on offense was the play of OS Joe Douglass. No matter how the Rattlers defended him, Douglass always seemed to make big plays in the first half. Douglass finished the game with 10 catches for 168 yards and 2 touchdowns.
The Crush just don’t seem to play as a team, as QB John Dutton expressed his frustration after the game. “That (pulling the team together) is something that we are not doing, we are fighting against each other,” Dutton said. “I don’t know what we can do, it’s like a habit -- a bad habit right now and we have to break it.”
The Rattlers can’t enjoy this win for long, as they head to HP Pavilion next week in a re-match with division rival San Jose. “We’ve just got to go stop a freight train,” White said.
Brian Knapp was a writer for ArenaFan Online from 2003 to 2005.
