Arizona Rattlers Continue Streak with Last Second Win
Brian Knapp
Tuesday May 4, 2004
Two hours before the game, Avenger fans, as well as a busload of Rattler faithful who made the trip, filled up a restaurant just outside of the Staples Center. The sea of black and teal combined with red and blue was a picture perfect example of what this rivalry has become. The Avenger fans were confident with chants of “This is our year,” while the Rattler contingent knew they had history on their side, as they were a perfect 5-0 in Los Angeles since the team’s inception in 2000.
Despite the winless home record against Arizona, Avengers fans didn’t waste any time bashing the Rattlers with a choreographed “Rattlers suck” chant prior to kickoff. Immediately following, however, was a chant of “Let’s go Rattlers” led by a few hundred Rattler fans.
No matter which team they were cheering for, every fan in the arena expected a high scoring game played down to the wire. Last year, in two games at the Staples Center, the Rattlers stole an 82-76 overtime win followed by a 70-63 nail biting playoff victory.
Unfortunately for the crowd of well over 13,000, their hopes of a high scoring game were thrown out early. Each team was stopped on its first possession, and the teams headed into the second quarter tied 0-0.
The Rattlers finally broke the silence early in the second quarter, when WR/LB Hunkie Cooper rushed into the end zone from one yard out. The teams traded touchdowns until the final series of the first half when the Rattlers stopped the Avengers on third down, holding them to just a field goal. Despite the lack of offense by both teams in the first half, it was clear that this game had all the makings of another thriller in Los Angeles.
The Rattlers captured the momentum in the third quarter, holding the Avengers to a turnover on downs. On the ensuing drive, QB Sherdrick Bonner found a wide open WR/LB Tom Pace for a 25-yard touchdown that quickly gave Arizona a two score advantage, 28-16.
The Rattlers weren’t in the driver’s seat for long, however, as the Avengers regained the lead early in the fourth quarter with a 15-0 run. The Avengers held a three-point lead until Bonner bulldozed his way into the end zone from the one-yard line, giving the Rattlers a 42-38 lead.
Just as they wrote it up, the Avengers’ offense marched down to the Rattler 3-yard-line and stopped the clock with just 14 seconds remaining in the game. Following two incomplete passes and an offensive holding penalty, the Avengers were down to one final play 13 yards from a victory. Last week’s offensive player of the week QB Tony Graziani saw his pass to OS Chris Jackson broken up by Rattlers DS Kelvin Hunter with no time remaining on the clock.
The Rattlers’ bench sprinted onto the field to celebrate, while the Avenger offense fell to their knees in disbelief. The defense was the story for the first time in the 5-year long rivalry on the two teams, who normally score 70 or more each, not combined.
“They took the ball down and K-Hunter made a great play,” Rattler DS Orshowante Bryant said. “LA is used to scoring over 60 every game. But when we play our game and we can hold them to six or seven plays per drive, that gives us confidence to know we’re in the hunt.”
The win pushes the Rattlers winning streak to five games and puts them in the fifth playoff spot. Most importantly, the Rattlers are coming together as a team and playing well on both sides of the ball. Following a dismal month of March (1-3), the Rattlers went a perfect 4-0 in the month of April and have started the most important month of the regular season with a win. The Rattlers will play league-leading San Jose twice before season’s end, as well as a trip to Detroit for a rematch with the Fury.
“We’re not worried about the playoffs right now,” Cooper said. “We’re focused on San Jose next week.”
Brian Knapp was a writer for ArenaFan Online from 2003 to 2005.
