Phantoms Debut Impressive, Despite Loss
Alexis Zgud
Sunday April 15, 2001
The Canadian AFL regular season debut started out promising, as Toronto won the toss. WR/DB Kerry Brown scored the first touchdown at 12:07 of the 1st on a 7-yard pass from starting QB Pat O’Hara. Brown’s TD marked the beginning of a battle in which both teams struggled to hold a lead.
Buffalo tied the score when WR Willie Latta scored on a run from the 2-yard line, then rushed for a two-point conversion to put the score at 14-14. Latta’s TD, however, became inconsequential as Damian Harrell caught a 43-yard pass from O’Hara at 00:33 of the 1st.
Toronto carried the lead until Buffalo scored on touchdown pass by James Kubiak in the 4th quarter. From there on out, it was an on again-off again love affair for the two neighbours, as the score see-sawed between them, until Buffalo led for good on Kubiak’s 22-yard touchdown pass to Eddie Brown with 7:46 left.
Chaos ensued in the crowd, as the Toronto Maple Leafs were about to play their second of seven potential playoff games. Blue Jay first baseman and home-run God Carlos Delgado were to sign autographs after the game, so fans didn’t know if they should stay for a victory (and a Delgado autograph) or rush home to see Cujo stone the Sens.
But for the fans who stuck around, a hard-fought loss awaited them. With 6-seconds left in the game, Toronto had a chance to tie the score when Damien Harrell made a dive to snag an O’Hara pass. The pass, however, was deemed incomplete by officials, as Harrell juggled it on the way down.
“We had the game on the line and he made a great throw to Harrell. He [Harrell] couldn’t come up with the touch catch. On the last play of the game, we just didn’t block, didn’t give him time to throw the ball,” Coach Mark Stoute said. But overall, Stoute said O’Hara “had a good night. He maybe threw for the night three bad passes the whole night, which is great.”
Coach Stoute, however, says he expected the team would’ve played better their first regular season game.
“I thought we would’ve played better defensively. We had a good night offensively. We misfired a couple of times, but overall, we had a great night.”
Wide-receiver Jerness Gethers echoed Stoute`s concerns and said the team will have to go back to the drawing board and get ready for their next game May 5th against the Grand Rapids Rampage.
“It’s a tough loss. We beat ourselves with some calls, but we just got to go back and get ready, can’t have another let down,” Gethers said.
A total loss? Of course not. The fans that stayed were treated to 30-minute autograph session by Phantoms players and Phantasy Girls, though it appeared Delgado had gone home to catch the Leaf’s second playoff victory.
Alexis Zgud was a writer for ArenaFan Online during the 2001 season.
