A Tale of Two Halves for Grand Rapids
Randy Snow
Monday April 4, 2005
Both teams came into the contest with identical 1-7 records and were tied for last place in the division. It was a far cry from the last time they had met on this same field. The date was August 19, 2001. A crowd of 11,217 fans packed the Van Andel Arena for Arena Bowl XV. The Rampage won the game 64-42 and the crowd went wild.
Sunday’s attendance was 6,297 and the crowd went home with an empty feeling in the pit of their stomachs.
The Rampage were shut out in the second half while the Kats scored 26 unanswered points and won the game 40-27. Grand Rapids came close to the end zone three times in the fourth quarter, but penalties and a fumble kept them scoreless.
Trailing 34-27 mid-way through the fourth, Grand Rapids WR/DB Timon Marshal ran a kickoff back for a touchdown, but a holding penalty on the play brought the ball back to the Rampage six-yard line. A few plays later WR/LB Anthony Hines caught a touchdown pass, but another holding penalty wiped out the play. Just before the one minute warning, WR/DB Dennison Robinson intercepted a pass at the Nashville 14-yard line ran it into the end zone, but the referees said he stepped out of bounds at the one-yard line. Two plays later, Rampage quarterback Michael Bishop tried to sneak the ball over the goal line, but he was driven back and lost the ball. The Kats then ran out the clock.
"We started off great," said newly signed Rampage WR/LB Dialio Burks. "We had our intensity going. I think mid-way through the third quarter we kind of lost it. We lost our intensity. That’s when things really started happening. They started forcing turnovers and you can’t win the game when you turn the ball over."
Burks came to the Rampage in a trade with the Georgia Force on Wednesday in exchange for Rampage OS Chris Jackson. Burks only participated in two team practices since he arrived in Grand Rapids. In the game, he caught two passes for 20 yards and made one tackle. Throw in the fact that his wife gave birth to a daughter on Monday and that makes for a full week in anyone’s book!
The Rampage are currently tied with the Columbus Destroyers with the worst records in the league. Both teams are 1-8. The Rampage lone victory was a 66-57 win over Columbus on February 27 in Grand Rapids.
Grand Rapids inability to put together four full quarters of football has been their most glaring problem so far this season. The team has talent, but with so many new faces on the team in the last few weeks, it may take time for them to gel as a team.
PREVIOUS SCORELESS HALVES
This was the third time in franchise history that Grand Rapids has failed to score in either half of a game. The first time was on May 23, 1998 at San Jose. It was only the fourth regular season game they had ever played. The Rampage were shut out in the second half and lost 49-20 to the SaberCats. The most recent scoreless half was just last season on February 22, 2004. Grand Rapids went into halftime without any points on the board and lost at home to the Las Vegas Gladiators 51-14.
NEXT 4 GAMES
Things don’t get any easier for the Rampage in the month of April. They travel to Las Vegas to face former Rampage quarterback Clint Dolezel and the Gladiators (5-4) on Friday night, April 8. Then they go to Georgia to play the Force (7-3) on April 15 before returning home on April 23 to take on the New Orleans Voodoo (6-4) and the Colorado Crush (7-2) on April 30.
RANDOM THOUGHT
It was just announced that the Arena Cup game will be held at a neutral site this year. The championship of the AFL’s developmental league, arenafootball2, will be played in Bossier City, Louisiana, home of the af2 Bossier-Shreveport Battle Wings. I say, why not rotate the game among some of the AFL cities as well, maybe every other year? It would be great for AFL fans to get a first hand look at some of the talented players in the af2. It would also give the af2 players a taste of what it’s like to play in an AFL arena.
Randy Snow covered the Grand Rapids Rampage of the Arena Football League for ArenaFan from 2003-2008. He also covered the Fort Wayne Fusion of arenafootball2 in 2007. From 2004-2008 and in 2010, he was a member of the Arena Football League Writer’s Association and, since 2011, has been a member of the Professional Football Researchers Association. Randy lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan but will travel just about anywhere for a football game or a great football story. He runs the web site www.theworldoffootball.com and hosts a podcast with his son, Adam, called “This Week in The World of Football.”
