Oklahoma Faces Juggernaut
Mick Cornett
Saturday May 5, 2001
It`s been over a year since the San Jose Sabercats lost a regular season game in the Arena Football League. Fans of the
Oklahoma Wranglers will never forget last year`s contest in Oklahoma City. It was a 68-64 slugfest with a mind-boggling 13 lead changes, won by the Wranglers on a goal-line stand at the buzzer. The loss apparently affected the Sabercats long after the clock expired because the ‘Cats also lost the following week to Arizona. But since that eight-day stretch in April 2000, San Jose has reeled off 14 straight regular season wins.
Barry Wagner has been a big part of San Jose`s success.
Image courtesy of Jeff Marshall |
Oklahoma (2-1) travels to San Jose (3-0) this week for a Saturday night game on the SaberCats home turf. San Jose is loaded with talent again (how do they stay under the salary cap anyway?). Wide receivers Barry Wagner and Steve Papin have obtained superstar status. Last week, new starting quarterback John Dutton passed for 308 yards and five touchdowns as the Cats beat Houston 62-57. It was San Jose`s sixth straight road victory.
San Jose doesn`t always blow out its opponents, but they seem to always find a way to win. During this 14-game regular season winning streak, five of the wins have been in games decided by seven points or less. San Jose was the favorite to win the league championship last year but lost to Nashville in the semi-finals.
Saturday`s game in San Jose will begin at 9:30 p.m. Oklahoma time. The Wranglers next home game will be May 12 against Arizona.
Mick Cornett was a writer for ArenaFan Online from 2000 to 2001.
The opinions expressed in the article above are only those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts, opinions, or official stance of ArenaFan Online or its staff, or the Arena Football League, or any AFL or af2 teams.
