Blaze, Burley wins hometown shootout
Jason Lucas
Sunday May 27, 2007
Siaha Burley returned to Central Florida Friday night for a match-up against his former team, The Orlando Predators (7-5) and came out with a 65-62 road victory for the slumping Utah Blaze (6-7).
This game was not billed to be Siaha Burley vs. Jimmy Fryzel in a battle of former University of Central Florida wide receivers, but that is how it turned out to be.
Burley scored four touchdowns for the Blaze, the last of which effectively put the game out of reach. He had 14 receptions for 191 yards primarily on Preds corner Micheaux Robinson who was filling in for the injured Ryan Bowers.
Fryzel had eight receptions for 94 yards and two touchdowns in a losing effort. Javarus Dudley led the Preds in receptions with 10 and yards with 117 but did not score a touchdown. Ron Johnson continued his tear scoring two touchdowns on eight receptions for 114 yards.
The Predators offense had a fantastic performance Friday but the old west style of game did the Preds in once again. It has been mentioned time after time and nothing has changed because when you get the Preds into a shootout style of game they are in deep trouble.
Tied at 35 at halftime and Utah getting the ball to open the second half it was easy to see the Predators were already in big trouble.
After Utah scored to go ahead 42-35 their defense would record the first stop of the game when the Predators turned the ball over on downs.
On the next play from scrimmage Utah QB Joe Germaine went back to pass and was sacked by Preds defensive end Greg White who forced a fumble on the play. Linebacker Marlon Moye-Moore picked up the ball and ran into the end zone to tie the game again at 42 all.
White had 2.5 sacks on the night bringing his league leading total to 13 sacks on the season. Opposite end Chaz Murphy returned Friday and recorded his first sack since week three.
However, that was the only stop Orlando’s defense would get as Burley and Germaine continued to dominate the Preds defense making things look easy against the league’s scoring defense leaders.
Trailing 56-55 after having just scored a touchdown the Preds extra point would be blocked and returned by Utah for two points which provided the final margin.
This was a game clearly decided by the Preds lack of special teams play. The Preds tried three onside kicks giving Utah three easy touchdowns in the game. The kick return team nearly fumbled away two other returns. The mistake of the blocked extra point was a situation where Orlando had six blockers on four rushers.
After all, it is a good news and bad news scenario. Yes, Orlando did not make the plays in the end to win a big game at home against a slumping team. That is of course the bad news.
The good news is the Predators are finally starting to resemble the team they broke training camp with in week one. Getting healthy is something the Preds have been waiting for since the rash of injuries early in the season.
Week 14
The schedule does not get any easier as the Predators travel to face the San Jose Sabercats next week. The Sabercats are another team just finding their stride and making plays with some familiar names. Mark Grieb is still throwing to his all-time favorite target James Roe who had two touchdown receptions in a 48-34 victory over the Nashville Kats last night.
This is another bad match-up for the Preds with a team who likes to play in shootouts. San Jose has a vastly improved defense and still has all world corner Clevan Thomas.
A big challenge lies ahead in the next few weeks as the Predators try to protect their three seed in the National Conference. Orlando will also be looking for their first win against a team with a winning record this season.
