Mustangs Stop Rampage, Win First Game
John Hoh
Monday June 18, 2001
For one quarter the Mustangs kept the game close. At the end of it the score was 10-7. Both teams had given up a turnover—which team would eventually win that battle? Grand Rapids seemed to have the early momentum, but the Mustangs answered with a TD of their own after Grand Rapids QB Clint Dolezel fumbled the snap and Milwaukee recovered. Milwaukee QB Kevin McDougal to WR/LB Gary Compton gave the Mustangs their first score and cut into the 10-0 Rampage lead.
The second quarter seemed to give the Equines fits. Hamilton again missed a field goal and Dolezel was hitting his receivers on the short routes. The halftime tally was 34-21. It seemed like a sure 0-9 record for the Mustangs was assured.
The second half started scary for Coach Frazier’s troops. Grand Rapids FB/LB Chris Avery stormed offsides past the Milwaukee offensive line and took down McDougal, who was under pressure for much of the evening. The battered QB laid on the Bradley Center turf and left the game for the remainder of the possession, which didn’t last long. Donnie Davis threw three straight incompletions. Hamilton’s field goal try was no good.
Grand Rapids promptly scored to extend the lead to 20. The press fraternity, especially the radio mouths, tried reassuring each other that a 20-point lead in the Arena League wasn’t much. The words almost sounded hollow. And it would be nice to say those words with your team ahead by that margin, not behind. Shut off the laptop, close it, get ready to beat the traffic home. It’s already the middle of the third quarter.
“When it was 41-21 we all kind of looked at one another,” said eventual player of the game Gary Compton. “Coach Frazier always makes a statement, ‘The wheel will come to its turn.’ For all the bad things that have happened to us, I think the wheel finally landed on us tonight.”
You have to think it’s just not your night when the Mustangs get a 5-yard unsportsmanlike penalty. The infraction? The DJ played the music while Grand Rapids was at the line of scrimmage. That was the second one of the game! How much worse can it get? (Rumor has it game PA announcer received a similar penalty a few years ago by talking too loud over the PA. The DJ has also expressed frustration in the past for playing music for a team that can’t win.)
I’m wrapping up my laptop when Kevin McDougal trots back onto the field. He doesn’t look hurt, but at this point I’m thinking Milwaukee’s QB corps is really depleted.
But it seemed the hit on McDougal fired him up. As I prepared to get up to go, McDougal hit Riley for a big gain to the Rampage 5. OK, I sat down to see if the Mustangs could score. A three-yard FB/LB Les Barley hop pulls the Mustangs to within 14. Figures. They exchange TDs, but it doesn’t help the ‘Stangs cause when the kicker can’t nail the extra point.
But what is the chance of the Mustangs galloping back from even a 14-point deficit late in the third quarter?
The Mustang defense stiffened its resolve. Grand Rapids doesn’t tally a TD, but three points on a K Brian Gowins’ 20-yard field goal.
But the Mustang weren’t ready to quit. Getting to mid-field, the Mustangs seemed to bog down with penalties when Barley put some pop into his hop and with a full head brewed 22 yards for a rushing TD.
I decide to watch a little more as Hamilton kicks off. Here, things get weird. The kick comes off the screen and Grand Rapids bobbles it! The Mustangs try to take possession and finally Gary Compton eats it up in the Rampage end zone for another Mustang tally! OK, I’ll stay. It’s a game again.
Grand Rapids takes possession, although not without some delicate ball handling by the Rampage. However, Milwaukee soon intercepts Dolezel, who came into the game with only 4 interceptions all year. A fortuitous break for a team that itself had been giving up the ball at critical junctures. As Coach Frazier observed, “We got key breaks.” Milwaukee soon ties the score.
The Rampage weren’t done. A stalled drive led to a Gowins field goal to give the Rampage a 3-point lead. But that was short-lived as the Mustangs again stretched the field leading to a McDougal to WR/DB Kahlil Carter TD that put Milwaukee on top to stay.
A stalled drive, ending with a fourth down stop, started the next Mustang drive. The Mustangs soon had seven more on a McDougal one-yard scamper. And while the lead seemed comfortable, we remembered this was Arenaball. The words we uttered minutes before now boomerang with a different meaning.
Clint Dolezel has been in this position before. He drove the Rampage to score a TD with less than a minute to go in the game. A PAT puts the Rampage down by four; a two-point conversion pulls Grand Rapids within three. But a Mustang interception of the two-point try keeps the Rampage five down, but they can try the onside kick.
Which soon displayed the extent to which this Mustang team continued to fight and make breaks and create turnovers. On the ensuing on-sides kick, no Rampage player touched the ball. Gary Compton caught it on the fly and trotted into the end zone for a TD. End of game, end of streak, let the winning streak begin.
There was dancing in the Bradley Center. The Mustangs finally broke into the win column. Coach Frazier and Chris Valozzi were visibly pleased and relieved. The Mustangs held on to win their first game in the reconstituted Central division, 62-50.
Down 20, the Mustangs won by 12. That is a 32-point swing in a quarter and a half. Can anyone doubt that Arenaball was played at the Bradley Center? After being behind 41-21, the Mustangs outscored the Rampage 41-9. The Mustangs tallied 35 points on five TDs in the fourth quarter alone! This was the Mustangs team Frazier touted and Milwaukee expected. As Coach Frazier pointed out, “My guys played their tails off.”
“I knew we had them wired up pretty well defensively. I felt our defensive backs were on top of what they were trying to do. And I thought, if we can just get a break, and sure enough . . . they started turning the ball over. No matter who you play, you’re going to be in trouble - expansion team, last-place team, or the world champions - if you turn the ball over like that.”
Added Kahlil Carter: “We’ve been talking about finishing a whole game, about playing four quarters of close ball . . . deliver the knockout ourselves instead of getting knocked out all the time. We said everybody needed to have their best game in order to win, and they did. They looked over us. They’re the division leaders, they beat us before, so they thought they were going to come in and beat us again.”
Gary Compton was named Player of the Game, scoring three TDs on a pass reception, kick-off fumble recovery in the end zone, and returning an on-sides kick for a tally. WR/LB Kevin Huntley was named Ironman.
John L. Hoh, Jr., is a free-lance writer from Milwaukee who grew up in Appleton, Wisconsin, as an avid Dolphins fan. He followed Arena Football since its inception, at one point watching tape-delayed games on low-powered WAV-TV in Waukesha. His happiest day was when Milwaukee was awarded the Mustangs franchise; his saddest when the Mustangs were contracted out of the league. John is married to his wife Maija (13+ years) and has a young son, Matthew. John pines for the return of the Arena Football League to Milwaukee.
