Avengers Halt Dallas Win Streak in Convincing Fashion
Mike Chanpong
Thursday March 25, 2004
Ingram caught six passes for 83 yards and scored three touchdowns in the first half, and QB Tony Graziani threw for six touchdowns and no interceptions to lead the Los Angeles Avengers to a convincing 60-44 win over the host Dallas Desperados at the American Airlines Center. The win gives the Avengers three straight road victories and sends Dallas’ five game win streak to a crashing halt.
The Avengers scored early and often – rolling to a 30-10 halftime lead behind four touchdown passes by Graziani and a 31-yard field goal by K Remy Hamilton.
Meanwhile, the 10 first-half points Dallas scored were the second fewest in their history. Dallas QB Glen Gauntt, who threw six touchdowns and guided his team to 77 points against Carolina last week, couldn’t generate nearly the same kind of offense against the Avengers’ stingy defense. Midway through the second quarter, Avenger OL/DL Jeremy Staat fell into Gauntt’s left leg forcing Desperados backup QB Walter Church to start the second half.
Church fared much better than Gauntt, throwing for five touchdowns, three to WR/DB Bobby Sippio, and two to WR/DB Will Pettis, but the Avengers recovered all three of Dallas’ onside kick attempts, and scored on every possession to put the game out of reach.
The Avengers had plenty of heroes on both sides of the ball. In addition to the offensive outputs of Graziani and Ingram, OS Chris Jackson caught eight passes for 79 yards and two touchdowns and rookie WR/DB Henry Douglas hauled in his first career AFL touchdown reception, a 21-yard catch and run from Graziani in the second quarter. WR/LB Greg Hopkins and FB/LB Lonnie Ford also scored on one- and five-yard runs, respectively. The Avenger offensive line, which allowed four sacks to Grand Rapids the previous week, gave Graziani outstanding protection against a Desperado defensive line that came into the game ranked second in the league in sacks.
On defense, DS Jason Moore started for the second straight week with DS Damen Wheeler and registered five tackles. The Avengers forced two turnovers that led directly to points – an interception of Gauntt by FB/LB Josh Jefferies that led to Ingram’s final touchdown of the first half, and a fumble recovery by Hopkins that led to a 19-yard field goal by Hamilton in the third quarter.
For the Avengers, it was their most complete game since they defeated Arizona 51-32 in Week One. The win runs the Avengers’ record to 4-2 and sets up a showdown with San Jose this Friday, where a share of first place in the division with the SaberCats is assured if Los Angeles can come away with a victory.
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.
