Wranglers News and Notes:
Week 2
Mick Cornett
Wednesday April 19, 2000
The Wranglers were thrilled with a near-capacity crowd that was loud and rowdy. But the crowd clearly didn’t understand how quickly a lead could evaporate. The exits filled with over two minutes left and Oklahoma clinging to an 11-point lead.
Lopez clearly made the difference. At one point he was 18 of 22 with one pass dropped and another purposely thrown away from all receivers. With the game on the line in the fourth quarter, he found Bobby McGowens in the end-zone three times for touchdowns.
Head Coach Bob Cortese was quick to credit Lopez, calling him one of the top five quarterbacks in the league. However, he pointed out that Lopez missed some ‘reads’ that could have improved on his eight-touchdown night.
The Wranglers are anxiously waiting further testing on the leg injuries suffered by WR/DB Brian Greene. Injuries have trailed Greene throughout his AFL career, having already missed virtually two complete seasons. With Greene out, and WR Melvin Phillips tossed from the game for misconduct, the Wranglers were short on players in the second half. This is a team that can’t afford many more injuries. One of the best linemen, Chris Butterfield, is already on the Injured list. In his place, Cortese is using AFL rookie Josh Heskew, a local player who starred collegically at Nebraska.
Three of the Western Conference teams won their opener on Saturday: Oklahoma, Arizona, and San Jose. Los Angeles lost to Grand Rapids.
San Jose will be in the Myriad Friday night. The SaberCats are picked by many to win the division and they’ll likely get no argument from Houston. San Jose picked up five quarterback sacks and embarrassed the Thunderbears on Saturday 54-14. The 14 points allowed is a team record and one of the best performances in league history. Oklahoma’s offensive line protected well against Buffalo but the San Jose pass-rush has to be a major concern this week. Who’s going to block SaberCat Sam Hernandez who had 2 1/2 sacks against Houston?
The SaberCats have perhaps the league’s all-time greatest player in Barry Wagner and one of the best kick-returners in Steve Papin. Oklahoma and San Jose met in the preseason with San Jose winning 37-30 but that score is probably meaningless. Both teams used a lot of players and quarterback Ron Lopez didn’t play at all for Oklahoma.
Mick Cornett was a writer for ArenaFan Online from 2000 to 2001.
