Avengers Win Wild West Shootout Over Gladiators
Mike Chanpong
Monday February 16, 2004
Offensively, Ingram tallied 180 all-purpose yards and scored a career-high three touchdowns. Defensively, he flat out saved the game.
With one second remaining, Las Vegas quarterback Clint Dolezel, who had already thrown for a team-record tying eight touchdowns, dropped back to throw from the Avenger three-yard line and fired a pass into the end zone to Terrill Shaw, only to have it swatted away by a diving Ingram as time expired. It was a thrilling end to a classic Arena Football shootout where both offenses marched up and down the field seemingly at will.
“We were just waiting for that one stop,” Ingram said in a statement afterwards. “Our defense was struggling out there a little bit, so we just had to buckle down.”
Offensively there were plenty of heroes for the Avengers. Quarterback Tony Graziani turned in a magnificent performance, completing 23 of 30 passes for 265 yards with seven touchdowns and no interceptions. Chris Jackson was the recipient of two of those touchdowns, as was Greg Hopkins, who also caught eight passes for 103 yards. But every time the Avengers scored, Las Vegas would answer right back.
With the game tied 48-48 and just over seven minutes to go in the fourth quarter, Gladiator wide receiver Terrill Shaw hauled in his fourth touchdown catch, a 17-yard strike from Dolezel. Daron Alcorn kicked the extra point to give Las Vegas a seven-point lead.
However, the Avengers came right back. On their next play from scrimmage, Tony Graziani hit Hopkins with a 29-yard touchdown strike. Remy Hamilton’s extra point knotted the game at 55-55 with 6:01 left.
At this point, Avenger head coach Ed Hodgkiss made a bold move. Facing the possibility of Las Vegas chewing up the clock in a drive down the field and the Avengers being forced to tie the game on their last possession, Hodgkiss elected to try an onside kick. His decision paid off brilliantly as Hamilton executed the kick to perfection, punching the ball high off the turf and down the right sideline, where it was recovered by Russell Shaw at the Avenger 17-yard line.
From there, Graziani and the offense went to work. After a roughing the passer penalty against Las Vegas and after a nineteen-yard completion to Jackson was negated by a holding call, the Avengers faced third and 17 from their own 23-yard line. Undaunted, Graziani dropped back and threw deep for newly acquired Joe Douglass, who burned his defender for a 27-yard touchdown with 1:53 left in the game.
It was Douglass’s first catch as an Avenger and would prove to be the game winning points, as Kevin Ingram’s last-second heroics would seal the victory on the Gladiator’s final drive.
Avengers Notes:
Jeremy Staat (knee) and Damian Wheeler (hamstring) sat out the game for the Avengers… Staat was placed on injured reserve and was replaced in the lineup by Silas Demary… In a rare move, Wheeler’s defensive specialist position was filled by lineman Arnold Miller… Kicker Remy Hamilton had a stellar game, coverting 8 of 8 extra point attempts and field goals of 23 and 18 yards in addition to blasting each of his deep kickoffs high off the nets… Rookie fullback/linebacker Josh Jefferies continued his impressive play, forcing and recovering a fumble and a blocking an extra point.
Mike Chanpong is a freelance writer living in Hollywood, CA. In addition to
sportswriting, he also works in television production. This is his second
year covering the Los Angeles Avengers for ArenaFan.
