Avengers Demolish Destroyers
Steven Herbert
Saturday April 19, 2003
The Avengers (9-3) established team records for victory margin and fewest points allowed in their four-year history. Their previous most one-sided victory was a 30-point triumph over Carolina last season. Los Angeles had allowed 20 points March 16 at Indiana.
"Our defense [has] always responded when they`ve had an outing they weren`t the proudest of," said Avengers coach Ed Hodgkiss. Los Angeles allowed a team record 82 points in Sunday’s 82-76 overtime loss to Arizona. "Last week they gave up a lot of points, [so the] defense took it upon themselves to have a dominating performance."
The Avengers scored touchdowns on five of their six first-half possessions, while Buffalo (4-8) scored only on the last of its six first half-possession, as Los Angeles led, 35-6 at halftime.
"That`s the mark of a mature team--they put the foot on the neck and win by a wide margin," Hodgkiss said. "We did that versus Carolina [a 63-48 victory April 4], we did that here again today. We did a great job."
Kevin Mason did far from a great job in his first start at quarterback for the Destroyers since June 14, 2000. Each of Mason`s first six passes were incomplete, with one intercepted, before he hooked up with Sir Mawn Wilson for a three-yard gain on his seven.
After another incompletion on his eighth pass, Mason`s ninth pass was intercepted by Cornelius Coe. Mason tried to make the tackle, but ran head first into the boards, straining his neck, and was done for the game.
Rookie Chris Sanders, the starter the previous two games, replaced Mason, guiding the Destroyers to a touchdown on his second drive on a 13-yard pass to Jason Collins-Baker.
The Destroyers turned the ball over on downs and lost a fumble on their final two possessions, on a night they finished one point away from matching their most one-sided loss and exceeded their lowest scoring game by one point.
"We`re struggling a little bit right now, so it`s going to take some extra effort on our part to overcome and get a win," said Sanders, who completed 12 of 33 passes for 127 yards as Buffalo lost for the seventh time in its last eight games.
Tony Graziani (13-for-29, 160 yards) threw six touchdown passes, five to Chris Jackson, as the Avengers won for the sixth time in their last seven games.
"It was just important that we played to our expectations after a loss last week," said Los Angeles wide receiver/linebacker J.J. Washington, who made a spectacular grab to catch a 32-yard touchdown pass from Graziani with six seconds left in the first half. "It was important to get our focus back and do what we can do."
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.
