Arizona Defense Rattles Los Angeles
Mike Chanpong
Friday May 7, 2004
Unfortunately, they ran into the hottest team in the Arena Football League, the Arizona Rattlers.
The Rattlers, winners of four consecutive games, extended their winning streak to five in a row with a 42-38 victory over the Avengers. The loss plummeted Los Angeles from the fourth seed in the playoff standings to seventh.
Right from the start, it was obvious that this was going to be a defensive battle. Neither team managed to score in the first quarter, marking the first time this year the Avengers didn’t reach the end zone in the opening stanza. However both offenses got untracked in the second, with Arizona going into halftime with a 21-16 advantage.
Down by as many as 12 points in the second half, the Avengers bounced back to take a 31-28 lead in the fourth quarter, and then led 38-35 with 6:23 left in the game after QB Tony Graziani’s eight-yard touchdown pass to OS Chris Jackson.
The Rattlers responded, driving 48 yards in four plays to take the lead 42-38 on Rattler QB Sherdrick Bonner’s one-yard touchdown plunge.
With 2:03 left in regulation, the Los Angeles crowd of more than 13,000 was on their feet looking for the high-powered Avengers offense to score the game-winning touchdown. They watched as Graziani masterfully dinked and dunked his way down the field with a series of short passes to Jackson and Russell Shaw, before a completion to Greg Hopkins put the Avengers at the Arizona three-yard line with 10 seconds left in the game.
However Arizona’s defense stood up to the challenge, securing the win on the final play of the game, when DS Kelvin Hunter swatted down a pass intended for Jackson in the end zone to give the Rattlers a hard fought 42-38 victory.
The win ran the Rattlers record all-time record against the Avengers in Los Angeles to 6-0.
“It was a great win,” said Arizona head coach Danny White after the game. “It’s especially great to win it on defense against probably the most explosive offense in the league. You know it’s going to come down to this because [the Avengers] are so well coached and so disciplined. I can’t talk enough about how proud I am of our guys.”
For Arizona QB Sherdrick Bonner, it was a homecoming. The Los Angeles native and former Azusa High and Cal-State Northridge standout completed 22 of 29 passes for 270 yards and four touchdowns en route to Offensive Player of the Game honors.
“It was a huge effort by our defense,” Bonner said after signing autographs and meeting with dozens of family and friends. “I don’t care if we win 13-10, as long as we win.”
When asked about the difference between this game and the first meeting between the two teams, a 61-45 Avengers’ opening day win, Bonner pointed to everyone being on the same page this time around.
“I thought we were more cohesive,” he said, recalling the game where he uncharacteristically threw four interceptions. “The first game we had some new parts and we were all trying to learn the system together. We have to see the same things on the field together and when it’s not like that, you’re going to have some mistakes.”
If there’s something positive the Avengers can take away from this game, it’s the job their defense did against a very solid Arizona offense.
“I think we’re definitely improving,” Avengers head coach Ed Hodgkiss said of his team’s defensive play. “We got enough defensive stops to win the game, there’s no doubt about that.”
Still, this was not a game that Hodgkiss wants his team to dwell on.
“We’re just going to have to look at the tape, fix our problems and move forward.”
Avenger Notes
QB Tony Graziani was 22-44 for 322 yards and three touchdowns. He currently leads the league with 75 touchdown passes… Graziani suffered only his second interception of the year when Arizona WR/DB Randy Gatewood snagged a tipped ball on the Avengers’ first possession… The win was costly for Arizona as team officials announced that Gatewood, the reigning AFL Ironman of the Year, broke his left arm and will miss the remainder of the year, as will FB/LB A.J. Novak (knee) and FB/LB James Williams (achilles tendon)… K Remy Hamilton’s 28-yard field goal on the final play of the first half was the 100th of his career, making him only the fifth kicker in AFL history to reach the century mark.
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.
