Carpenter Hammers Wranglers
Charliy Nash
Wednesday July 4, 2001
For the second consecutive game, Carpenter returned an onside kick for a touchdown. The ball came directly to him and FB/LB Travis Reece leveled the only Oklahoma defender with a chance to stop him.
Key Injuries
Kats OS Tyronne Jones left the game in the second quarter after being injured on a strange play that should have never happened. Oklahoma was attempting a field goal from near their endzone. The snap sailed past the holder. Kicker Chris Sailer quickly picked the ball up to avoid a safety, then punted it. The key word here is punt. The ball wobbled out near the 20-yard line and went in and out of several pairs of hands.
Finally, Wrangler WR/DB Kusanti Abdul-Salaam picked the ball up cleanly. Jones grabbed Abdul-Salaam’s leg and held on tight. In attempting to break free, Abdul-Salaam inadvertently kicked Jones in –- uh, let’s just say Jones left the game with a groin injury. Now let’s go back to that funny little word that you never see in stories about Arena Football games. Punt. The referees ruled that the punt was illegal and the Kats took over on downs. Correct ruling, but they should have whistled the play dead immediately, not after Jones was injured.
Another injury of great concern to Nashville was a dislocated finger on QB Andy Kelly’s throwing hand. The medical staff popped the finger back into place and taped him up, but after one more play he turned the game over to backup QB James Brown. Brown was 4 for 6 passing for 2 TDs.
About Those Records
The Kat regained the status of the top-scoring defense. They are now tied with the Firebirds for first in turnover ratio.
Charliy Nash has covered both incarnations of the Nashville Kats, and now has make the 2 hour drive to Huntsville for an Arena Football fix. He also covers the Tennessee Titans as a blogger for nfl.com and still hopes this will eventually lead to a paying gig.
