Rattlers Rally Behind DeGrenier, Fight Off ThunderBears
Patrick Daly
Monday May 7, 2001
Houston put early pressure on May, knocking him to the turf a number of times, including a late hit that resulted in a roughing the passer call. The pressure forced May to get rid of the ball quickly, leading to a number of errant passes and a second-quarter safety. “It was really out of character for Chad May,” said Head Coach Danny White about May’s performance. “I’ve never seen a guy have a problem hanging on to the ball like that.”
When DeGrenier came in, he avoided the pressure up front and connected on a number of short passes that turned into long gains. One of the most exciting plays came on DeGrenier’s first drive. On the third play of the series he hit wide receiver/linebacker Chris Horn on a screen pass that turned into a touchdown when Horn broke a tackle, put his hand down to stay off the turf, and then barreled into the endzone for the score.
White made the switch at quarterback without reservations at time in the game where the team needed a lift. “He’s been in our system for several years, so he knows the plays,” said White about DeGrenier. “He’s a great athlete, he can move, he can run. The only thing he lacks is experience. He moves around so well. If there’s pressure he just runs out of it and buys time.”
Not only did DeGrenier help spark the offense to a 27-0 run in the second and third quarters, but the defense seemed to respond as well, picking off Houston quarterback Todd Hammel three times and holding the ThunderBears to 12 points in the second half. “I just go in there to do my job,” said DeGrenier about coming in to take the reigns. “Everybody just rallied around me and we pulled out a victory.”
While the Arizona defense did not always pressure Hammel, they did get their hands up to take away the passing lanes and obscure Hammel’s view. Two interceptions came off of batted balls. The first interception was recorded by Horn after lineman Mark Tucker knocked the ball into the air. The second came when Horn knocked a Hammel pass into the waiting arms of linebacker/fullback Greg Gales.
While most teams would rather avoid having to come back from a big deficit, this win will only help Arizona’s confidence later. “It’ll help us a lot down the road when we get behind like this again, to know that you can come back and turn a game around that quickly,” said White.
With another big division game in Oklahoma this Saturday who starts at quarterback for the Rattlers?
“We’ll let the dust settle, watch the film and see how they do in practice,” said White.
Patrick Daly has been an Arena Football League enthusiast since he first stumbled across the late-night ESPN broadcasts and has followed the Arizona Rattlers since their inaugural season in 1992. He graduated from Arizona State University with an engineering degree and is currently a member of a web development team for Direct Alliance in Tempe. Patrick currently resides in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler, Arizona with his beautiful wife, son and a very large football helmet collection.
