Close Halftime Score Turns into Route
Steven Herbert
Saturday April 5, 2003
All doubts were removed in the third quarter, when Los Angeles scored touchdowns on all three of its possessions and the Avenger defense shut out the Cobras.
Los Angeles’ 63-48 victory Friday night at the Staples Center was a milestone for the franchise for several reasons.
It extended its franchise-record winning streak to five games, moved it six games above the .500 mark for the first time in its four-year history, matched its record for victories in a season, with six games left to play, and assured it of at least a share of the Western Division lead and Arena Football League’s best record when the season’s 10th week is completed Sunday.
Avengers quarterback Tony Graziani tied a career high by throwing eight touchdown passes, including one on each of Los Angeles’ three plays in the first quarter against Carolina’s man-to-man defense on a 25-yard pass to Chris Jackson and 13- and 28-yard passes to Greg Hopkins.
“I feel like we`ve got some pretty good receivers and Tony`s pretty accurate,” Avengers coach Ed Hodgkiss said. “If we can protect versus man coverage, we`re going to be pretty successful and that`s what happened.”
Said Jackson: “We just wanted to weather that first storm. Once we took the sail out of that boat in the first quarter, we realized that we needed to continue what we’re doing an avoid a letdown.”
It took Los Angeles (8-2) longer to score in the second quarter. Graziani’s 21-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Ingram culminated an eight-play, 41-yard drive that almost ended on the first play when Graziani was sacked and fumbled. The Cobras (0-10) squandered a chance to recover, with center Sean McNamara recovering for the Avengers.
Los Angeles also needed to successfully convert two third-down situations, with Graziani running for the necessary yards on both occasions.
On the Avengers next possession, Graziani’s six-yard touchdown pass to Jackson capped a three-play, 37-yard drive and gave Los Angeles a 35-21 lead with one minute, 57 seconds left in the first half. Carolina responded with Stewart Patridge’s 14-yard touchdown pass to Ty Law with 17 seconds left.
With only seven seconds to work with when he got back on the field, Graziani (15-for-21 for 270 yards) could only put the Avengers in position for a 51-yard field goal try by Remy Hamilton, which was short.
The closeness did not come as a surprise, Hodgkiss said.
“In the Arena League, it’s a rare occasion you’re going to have a comfortable lead at halftime,” Hodgkiss said.
However, at the end of three quarters, Los Angeles did have a comfortable lead, 56-28, after Graziani threw touchdown passes to Hopkins, Jackson and Siaha Burley and the defense shut out the Cobras, who turned the ball over on downs on both their third-quarter possessions.
Steven Herbert began covering Arena Football in 1988, the league’s second season. He has covered the sport for The Associated Press, Arizona Republic, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Providence Journal-Bulletin, Palm Beach Post, Daily Oklahoman and other publications. Herbert has also written on college and NFL football for The Washington Post and spent five years as a Los Angeles Times staff writer.
