Wranglers News and Notes:
Wranglers beat Sabercats
Mick Cornett
Tuesday April 25, 2000
Oklahoma defeated San Jose Friday night in a game that included two kick returns for touchdowns, an interception return for touchdown, a safety, a touchdown pass that was tipped by a defender before bouncing off a referee and into the arms of a diving receiver in the endzone, a quarterback who woke-up that morning unable to walk (much less play football) tossing seven touchdown passes, and finally ended with a breath-taking goal-line stand. There were 13 lead changes before the home-town Wranglers defeated the SaberCats 68-64 in front of 9,000 at the Myriad.
Heroes were aplenty on the Oklahoma roster. Carlos Johnson caught 11 passes for 182 yards and ran a kickoff back, scoring five touchdowns in all. And Quarterback Ron Lopez ran for a touchdown besides throwing for seven more. But no one was more important than the members of the team’s training staff which worked medical wonders on Lopez’s sore back. The Wranglers star player woke up and was barely able to move. A dose or two of muscle relaxers combined with afternoon back massages allowed him to stand up straight and shortly before game time a decision was made to let him start and see how he felt. He limped around all game, dropped a snap, and threw two interceptions but was remarkably successful at finding open receivers. Backup quarterback Bob Bees warmed-up in the first quarter but never entered the game.
San Jose’s star players starred as usual. Offensive specialist Steve Papin took a kickoff back for a touchdown. Ironman Barry Wagner made nine tackles and two interceptions, running one back 47 yards for a touchdown. But it was wide-out Jerry Reese who had the most success, totaling 183 yards receiving and four touchdowns.
In the end, it came down to one final series of “if we score, we win; if you stop us, you win” football. In the final minute, San Jose had first and goal at the three, ran the ball three times, and didn’t score. Monday morning coaches had plenty of ammunition for this one: Facing third and goal at the two, and out of time-outs with seven seconds left, the SaberCats could have passed the ball figuring an incompletion would stop the clock and allow a fourth down opportunity. Instead, they ran, which assured they would have only one crack at the endzone. They didn’t make it.
Next up for Oklahoma is a back-to-back, Monday-Friday, confrontation with division rival Los Angeles. Avenger Head Coach Stan Brock coached 18 of the Wrangler players in Portland last year and several of the coaches have worked with members of both staffs. Everyone involved says the right things but you sense this is a game that means more than all the others. The fact that Los Angeles has started the year 0-2 and Oklahoma has started 2-0 probably won’t matter much.
With Lopez’s back problems given a full nine days to straighten out, the Wranglers figure to be healthier at LA on May 1st then they’ve been since training camp began. Star lineman Chris Butterfield is scheduled to come off the injured list and Ironman Brian Greene should be back from a one-week-rehab after a knee injury knocked him out of the opener against Buffalo.
Wrangler head coach Bob Cortese’s reputation as an offensive mastermind is getting a lot of the credit for the team’s amazing early success. With 130 points in two games, Oklahoma leads the league in scoring and the 68 points against San Jose is the most in franchise (Memphis/Portland) history. It’s obviously very early (but interesting to note) that the league record for touchdown passes in a season is 84. Lopez is on pace for 105.
Attendance for the San Jose game was a shade under 9,000 putting the two-game average at 10,500. Next home game is Friday, May 5 against Los Angeles.
Mick Cornett was a writer for ArenaFan Online from 2000 to 2001.
