Speed’s Late Rally Falls Just Short At Mohegan
David Chappell
Saturday May 17, 2003
Much more importantly, Johnson’s fourth down and five pass from the Wolves’ 15 yard line could have given the Speed, trailing 49-43 at the time, the most dramatic and improbable comeback victory in arenafootball2 this year.
Unfortunately for Johnson and the Speed, the critical fourth down attempt slipped out of Johnson’s hands and was ruled incomplete, allowing the Wolves to take over on downs and escape with a 56-43 victory in front of 3,883 spectators at the Mohegan Sun Arena.
Richmond appeared hopelessly out of this game when new kicker Peter Martinez executed an unsuccessful onsides kick attempt, and Mohegan’s FB LaJohn Jones soon thereafter barreled in for a two yard score with 6:57 remaining in the contest, giving the Wolves a 49-36 lead. But the Speed would not go quietly.
With 4:06 remaining in the game and still ahead by 13 points, Mohegan surely appeared to have the game in hand when they stripped Johnson of the ball at the Richmond 17-yard line. A mad scramble ensued for the football, with the Speed’s Lawrence Lewis somehow coming up with it at the Richmond two yard line.
But on second and 25 from their own two, Johnson hooked up with rookie WR Marc Bacote on a critical pass play to the Wolves’ six yard line to keep Richmond’s hopes alive. Three plays later Bacote, with Mohegan DB Andre Weathers draped all over him, snared a four yard TD pass from Johnson to cut the Wolves’ advantage to 49-43 with 1:07 remaining.
Richmond got the ball back immediately when Lewis recovered the ensuing onsides kick at the Speed 18 at the one minute warning mark. Lewis came up with the recovery despite three Mohegan players having shots at it initially.
The Speed moved to a first and ten at the Mohegan 20, on a Johnson to Damon “Redd” Thompson completion with 48 seconds left. Thompson had yet another huge game for Richmond, hauling in an incredible 17 passes for 197 yards and three TDs on the night.
But the Richmond drive would bog down at this point. Johnson hit Thompson for the final time on the evening, a five yard pass to the Wolves’ 15 with :25 remaining. Johnson’s final three pass attempts from the Mohegan 15 were ruled incomplete, allowing Mohegan to take over on downs with 11 seconds remaining.
At this point, Mohegan needed to merely run out the clock to seal their victory. On first down and ten from his 15, Mohegan quarterback Greg Smith ran for four yards to the 19 forcing Richmond to expend their final timeout.
On second and six with :04 remaining, up 49-43 and with the Speed unable to stop the clock, Mohegan opted to throw the ball down the field on the game’s final play. Smith hit a wide-open Kazmell Minott for a long 31 yard TD to end the game. Zac Derr’s extra point at :00 inflated Mohegan’s final advantage to 56-43.
The loss snapped Richmond’s three game winning streak, and leveled the Speed’s record at 3-3. With the win, Mohegan ended a two game losing streak and improved to 4-2.
The game started ominously for Richmond, where on the game’s first possession the Speed defense had the Wolves backed up on a third and ten at the Mohegan three yard line. But Smith promptly rifled a 47 yard scoring pass to WR Lance Small for a 7-0 Mohegan lead.
Richmond answered quickly on a 21 yard TD pass from Johnson to WR Marcus Richardson with 8:35 remaining in the first quarter. Richardson beat Small, who was in coverage for the Wolves. Following an acrobatic end zone interception by DB Troy Wright, the Speed took a 14-7 lead on Redd Thompson’s diving 17 yard TD reception on a fourth and one with 3:29 remaining in the first quarter.
The Speed’s final lead of the night came on a 27 yard field goal by Martinez early in the second quarter, which gave Richmond a 17-14 advantage. On the ensuing kickoff, Richmond suffered a serious blow when WR/DB Richard Holland suffered a pulled right hamstring while covering the kick. Holland did not return to the game.
The Wolves answered the Speed’s field goal quickly with two more TD passes from Smith, the first of 34 yards to OS Cy Butler and the second of 19 yards to WR Anthony Comer for a 28-17 Mohegan lead. The Speed’s Martinez missed a 35 yard field goal attempt wide right at :10 of the first half that could have cut Richmond’s deficit to eight points at the intermission.
The teams traded scores for the majority of the second half, until the game’s dramatic conclusion unfolded over the final four minutes of play.
Due to injuries and personnel issues, the Speed had five new players on their active roster for last night’s game. In addition to Martinez, the other Richmond newcomers that played last evening were OL/DL Paul Stevens, OL/DL Deonte Holden, WR/DB Aaron Yarborough and FB/LB Tony Dancy.
Smith, a rookie from Dartmouth, won game MVP honors with an outstanding night of 12-17 passing for 236 yards and six touchdowns in his first career start for Mohegan. Butler, named Ironman of the Game, caught four of Smith’s passes for 66 yards and two scores, and also torched Richmond with 139 return yards. Charlie Cook recorded three sacks for the Wolves, and was named the ADT Defensive Player of the Game.
In addition to Thompson’s spectacular night receiving, rookie Marc Bacote had four receptions for 87 yards and a touchdown for the Speed. Richmond head coach Richard Davis was pleased with Bacote’s play, saying on the Speed’s post game radio show, “Marc made some plays; I’m proud of him.” But Davis clearly was not pleased with much of what he saw last night from the Speed. “We’ll see on film who stepped up. I don’t think many (Richmond players) did, to be honest,” Davis said.
Johnson was 29-45 for 366 yards and five touchdowns. The Richmond QB suffered one interception, his first of the year. Johnson’s 45 pass attempts tied an af2 single game high for the 2003 season. The 366 yard passing effort by Johnson was only four yards shy of the af2 single game high for passing yards set so far this year. Despite the gaudy passing statistics, Johnson was not able to get the Speed into the end zone in the contest’s waning seconds with the game hanging in the balance. Davis termed Johnson’s performance at the end of the game “not acceptable.”
Richmond’s outstanding line play that was a constant during the recent three game winning streak, did not manifest itself last night. Smith had ample time to throw for the Wolves, while Johnson was under steady pressure from Mohegan pass rushers. Davis was dissatisfied by Richmond’s play in the trenches. “We didn’t play well up front. We got beat up front, and I’m very disappointed about that,” Davis said.
Mohegan will entertain another 4-2 team, the Norfolk Nighthawks, on Friday night. Richmond will have little time to dwell on this loss, as they must embark upon yet another long northern road trip, traveling to Rochester, New York to face the Rochester Brigade on Friday night. This will be a quick rematch between the teams, as Richmond recently handled the Brigade 62-43 on May 10 at the Richmond Coliseum.
David Chappell is a native of Richmond, Virginia. He has closely followed local sports in Richmond and vicinity for over thirty years, and Arena Football 2 since its inception. David currently writes extensively for a website that he co-founded which documents professional wrestling in Virginia and surrounding areas from 1974-1986. A former elected prosecutor, David is currently a practicing attorney in a large downtown Richmond law firm.
