Rattlers Drop Fourth Straight Opener
Brian Knapp
Wednesday February 11, 2004
“I was worried about this one all week, and I guess my fears came true,” Rattler head coach Danny White said. “We played like it was a preseason game.”
The first quarter showed no signs of a typical Rattlers-Avengers match-up, as both teams missed field goals on their opening drives. The Avengers broke the scoreless tie late in the quarter, when quarterback Tony Graziani hit Chris Jackson for a touchdown. Jackson led all receivers with 96 yards and two touchdowns.
Sherdrick Bonner and Siaha Burley would connect twice in the first half for the Rattlers, both times answering Avenger touchdowns. Despite leading the team with 91 yards and two touchdowns, there was some timing confusion early between Burley and Bonner.
“We miscommunicated a few times and I’m definitely going to take the shoulder on this one,” Bonner said. “He’s [Burley] an explosive player that we need to have on the field, and any chances we have to exploit the defense, we need to take advantage.”
The Rattlers, down by nine midway through the second quarter, dug themselves a hole when Russell Shaw intercepted a Bonner pass on the Los Angeles 1-yard line. Graziani hooked up with Silas Demary five plays later to give the Avengers a 16-point lead, 28-12. Arizona wouldn’t get any closer than 10 points for the rest of the afternoon.
The Rattler faithful finally rose to their feet following a 1-yard touchdown run by Bonner that cut the lead to 12 points. A successful 2-point conversion attempt from Bonner to Hunkie Cooper appeared to give the momentum right back to Arizona.
“The energy the defense brought was amazing,” Bonner said. “There’s a lot of plusses, but we’ve got to take away some of the negatives in order to turn things around and get going in the right direction.”
The Rattlers had a chance to cut the lead to three following a missed field goal by Remy Hamilton, but turned the football over on a Cooper fumble. The Avengers again capitalized, taking a 45-32 lead on a Hamilton field goal with just over nine minutes to go.
The Avengers would add another touchdown with five minutes to go following Bonner’s fourth interception of the game.
Cooper was held to only one catch for nine yards on the game. Randy Gatewood and Tom Pace each added a touchdown, wrapping up the scoring for Arizona.
The game had all the signs of a preseason game for the Rattlers. Bonner, who only threw seven interceptions all of last year, had four on the game. Kicker Nelson Garner who hit 88 of 99 PAT’s last year, missed all three attempts on the game, in addition to a missed field goal.
“I still think Nelson is the best kicker in the league,” White said. “Nelson just had a bad day, and that’s all that was.”
There were a few bright spots for the Rattlers, mostly on defense. Second year lineman Bryan Henderson recorded two sacks, tying a franchise record. The Rattlers also held the Avengers to three field goal attempts and a forced fumble. The Avengers went a perfect nine for nine on touchdown drives in last years 14-point win over the Rattlers in Phoenix.
The Rattlers and Avengers will hook up again May 1st at the Staples Center where the Rattlers are an undefeated 5-0 against the Avengers in Los Angeles.
Fortunately for the Rattlers, they don’t have to wait long before getting another crack at their first win of the season. Arizona will play host to the Detroit Fury on Friday night. The Fury have a long week following their loss to San Jose last Thursday.
Brian Knapp was a writer for ArenaFan Online from 2003 to 2005.
