Turnovers have been a problem for the Grand Rapids Rampage all season long. Saturday night they had a game for the record books.

The Rampage set a team record with seven turnovers and scored only six points in the second half to lose to the Tampa Bay Storm 69-40 Saturday at Van Andel Arena.

“Too many, too many, too many turnovers,” Rampage coach Sparky McEwen said. “Especially against a team that’s headed to the playoffs."

The Storm (8-7) never trailed from the opening kickoff. Grand Rapids kick returner Clarence Coleman fumbled the first kick of the game and Jeroid Johnson ran it in from the three for a 7-0 lead.

Tampa Bay recovered a kickoff off the net and turned that into three points and with only 3 ½ minutes played the Storm led 10-0.

Grand Rapids (4-11) got their only score of the quarter on a Cornelius Bonner 7-yard pass, but the Storm got that back on a 4-yard strike from Brett Dietz to Hank Edwards.

Rampage quarterback Adrian McPherson, starting his second game with Grand Rapids, ran in from 10 yards out to open the second quarter, but fumbled the ball in his own end zone into the hands of Tim McGill four minutes later. It would be the first of two drops McPherson had in the half.

Torrance Marshall and Chris Ryan traded 1-yard touchdown runs, then Jerome Riley picked up a Tampa Bay fumble and ran it back 37 yards to make the score 31-27.

Both teams traded long touchdown passes in the final 30 seconds for a 38-34 halftime lead for the Storm.

“Tampa gave us opportunities early, but we would turn around and give it back to them,” McEwen said.

Grand Rapids, who had been outscored 455-334 in the second half, scored only six points the rest of the game on a Coleman reception in the third quarter.

“If you hold a team to six points in the second half chances are you’ll win the game,” Storm coach Tim Marcum said.

The crucial play came after Marshall‘s second rushing touchdown of the game. The Rampage had driven to the Storm 5 when McPherson tossed an interception at the goal line. A touchdown and a two-point conversion would have tied the score at 48.

“I was a little late,” McPherson said. “It was a choice route and he (Cornelius Bonner) had an option to do a bunch of different things and I was a little late. I should have just threw the ball away because being late and then throwing it over the middle I should have known the defender would be closer than I thought.”

The Storm scored three more times for the final score.

“As a team we know they (Tampa Bay) didn’t beat us, we beat ourselves,”” McPherson said. “That’s been the case in a lot of the games I’ve been in.”

The Rampage had opportunities to take the lead and both teams knew it.

“We played about as sloppy as they (Grand Rapids) did at times,” Marcum said, noting the Storm had three fumbles and an interception.

“Even with seven turnovers we were still in position to win the game in the third quarter,” McEwen said. “There was definitely a letdown at the end.”

Dietz was named offensive player of the game after going 22-of-37 for 272 yards, four touchdowns and an interception. Lawrence Samuels was the biggest beneficiary of Dietz, catching nine balls for 93 yards.

“Brett’s doing a good job of getting the ball” to his receivers, Marcum said. “I’m disappointed in our deep balls. We’re not catching the deep balls.”

McPherson finished 24-of-37 for 297 yards, three scores and two picks. He also ran six times for 55 yards and a score.

The win, Tampa Bay’s seventh in the last eight games, gives the Storm a home game in the first round of the playoffs.

“That’s really huge for us and our players to come to our arena and play a playoff game,” Marcum said. “This says volumes and volumes of where these kids have come. From 0-5 and 1-6, now we’re 8-7 and hosting a playoff game, I told the guys I’m really proud of them and I’m proud for them.”

The Storm finish the season at home against the Austin Wranglers, a team they beat 66-45 at the Erwin Center May 6. It was McPherson’s last game as a Wrangler, as he was released the next day.

“It will be different because Adrian (McPherson) is not there,” Marcum said. “I haven’t really looked at Austin. I don’t know what they can or cannot do because the old coaching 101 manual says you take it one game at a time.”

Grand Rapids wraps up the season with a road game against the Nashville Kats, a team the Rampage beat 71-55 at Van Andel May 5 when the Kats turned the ball over five times.

“The guys know we have to finish the season tough and continue to work on the small things so they can get better,” McEwen said.

Notes: Arena Football League Supervisor of Officials Jim Lapetina was at the game. …… A moment of silence was held for Utah Blaze receiver Justin Skaggs, who died Friday after losing a battle with cancer. … Rage dancer Keri Larsen was announced as Grand Rapids’ representative to the ArenaBowl XXI dance team. … Tampa Bay’s Tom Briggs injured his right knee in the second quarter and didn’t return.