Archer on target to Eley as Mustangs take Command

Jeff Sawatzke
Monday June 13, 2011

RJ Archer threw four touchdown passes to Dwayne Eley Jr and led the Milwaukee Mustangs (4-9) to a 54-34 home victory over the Kansas City Command (4-9).  This was a game that had the Mustangs firing on all cylinders. 

After a horrible first drive that netted three yards, the Mustangs gave the ball back to Kansas City on their own five yard line.  The Mustangs defense stepped up for the first time of the evening and held the Command to a single first down and a failed field goal attempt.

The Mustangs offense started to click in their second drive.  Archer went 3-of-3 to three different receivers ending the drive with an 18 yard pass to Eley, a theme that would continue throughout the evening.  Eley jumped on the end zone wall briefly which earned the Mustangs an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for excessive celebration.
This rule needs to be changed as the celebration was not excessive, caused no delay and it is exactly what the crowd of 5,249 wanted to see. The Arena Football League needs to let these guys play and entertain, which is what arena football is all about.

Kansas City took advantage of their good field position caused by the excessive celebration penalty and scored with a six play drive capped off with a four yard pass to Steven Savoy.  Savoy proved to be a handful all night for the Mustangs as he and quarterback JJ Raterink hooked up rushing and passing for a total of three times for touchdowns.

The second quarter ended 21-21 as Milwaukee and Kansas City continued the back and forth exchanges of touchdowns. 

Milwaukee's defense came out after the break on fire.  They held Kansas City inside their four yard line. 

Archer and the Mustangs were able to capitalize on the good field position as Archer hooked up with Eley for the third time of the evening to bring the Mustangs ahead by a touchdown for the third time of the night with a score of 28-21.

Continuing the defensive attack the Mustangs defense forced four straight incomplete passes by JJ Raterink giving Milwaukee the ball on their own two yard line. 

Kansas City's defense stepped up pushing a run by Mykel Benson back one yard followed by two incomplete passes.  Milwaukee settled for a field goal brining the score to 31-21.

This defensive stand brought the Kansas City offense back to life as Raterink completed 3-of-3.  The drive finished with a five yard pass for a touchdown to Bradley Chavez bringing the score to 31-28.

Completing seven straight passes RJ Archer was definitely on target tonight.  Ending the drive with a QB sneak for a touchdown RJ Archer was playing the best football he has played in a while.

Another huge defensive stand by Milwaukee with pressure on nearly every passing play forced Raterink to go 2-of-6.  With fourth-and-one Kansas City tried rushing Rich Ranglin but the Milwaukee defense held him back causing a turnover on downs with seven minutes left in the game.  Eley also commented that without some of the defensive stops it would be a much different game.  "It was huge for our defense to stop them and we were lucky to capitalize on them."

The Archer-Eley show continued on the very next play as a wide open Eley caught his fourth touchdown of the evening.  Archer stated that, "With his [Eley's] speed I would say there are not too many match-ups that are not very good." This was Eley's first four touchdown game of his playing career; his previous best was a three touchdown game in college.  This brought the score to 45-28. 

Kansas City had a good return called back because of a block in the back penalty.  The first play of the drive was a 43 yard bomb to Savoy bringing the Command to their two yard line.  The next play was a pass to Bret Smith in the end zone which was called back because of an illegal umpire pick.  To complete the drive Raterink went to Savoy three times the third one being a one yard TD pass which brought the score to 48-34.

A failed onside kick by Kansas City gave Milwaukee the ball on their own twelve yard line.  Milwaukee ran off as much time as possible and ended up with a field goalto extend their lead to 48-34 with 0:44 left in the game.

The defense for Milwaukee kept up the pressure with a sack and causing Raterink to go 1-4 with his final pass of the game being picked off by Antonio Malone, his second of the game, which was returned for a touchdown as the clock ran out.  The final score was 54-34.

The Mustangs will have their hands full next week.  Let's hope the same team that played tonight shows up in Jacksonville next week as the Mustangs take on the Sharks (11-1) on June 18th.

Report Card

Offense - A   R.J. Archer went 20-31 with no interceptions and completed passes to five different receivers.  The offense was truly in sync tonight.

Defense - B+  The only ding that I can give the defense tonight is that they had trouble covering Steven Savoy.  The defensive line really had a lot of pressure on Raterink all night and had several huge stands forcing turnovers on downs.  Capped off by Malone's two interceptions it was a pleasure watching this unit work as a team.

Special Teams - B+  A missed snap on a field goal attempt which led to our first look at the newest Mustang quarterback Gino Guidigli in an incomplete attempt to kicker Garret Lindholm.  Lindholm went 1-1 on field goals and 7-7 on extra points.  The Mustangs also did not lose the onside kick in the fourth quarter.