Arizona Loses Battle and War to SaberCats
Patrick Daly
Sunday July 8, 2001
During the opening, the Sidewinders cheerleading squad came out on an old Army jeep and a disparaging quote about Arizona by former Rattler and current SaberCat Bob McMillen who compared San Jose fans to Arizona fans, flashed alongside “This is war” on the screens around America West Arena. Even Arena Football League commissioner C. David Baker was on hand to present Arizona head coach Danny White with a new Rolex watch in honor of his 100th victory last week.
Unfortunately for Arizona (7-5), not only did the Rattlers lose the battle on Friday night with a 73-63 loss, but they also surrendered the Western Division championship to the rival San Jose SaberCats (9-3) in a less than noble fashion.
“They just outplayed us,” stated fullback/linebacker Greg Gales. “They beat us up. They wanted it a little more than we did.”
“They won the war up front,” continued Gales. “I told you guys the other day, ‘you win the war up front, you win the game.’ ”
The first half featured an offensive shootout as both teams scored on each possession with the exception of the San Jose’s final one that ended when time ran out in the first half. The Rattlers held a 36-34 lead at the half and built a 49-41 lead midway through the third quarter, but a 25-0 run by San Jose that included two safeties gave the SaberCats a lead in the fourth quarter that Arizona couldn’t overcome.
The biggest play of the game, and one that probably turned the game in San Jose’s favor, occurred on a kick return by Arizona prior to their final possession of the first half when Arizona offensive specialist Calvin Schexnayder went down with a knee injury. Schexnayder stopped abruptly with both feet on the turf while trying to make a cut during the return and then went down. The extent of the injury is unknown, but the early prognosis is not promising.
“We don’t know,” said Rattlers head coach Danny White about Schexnayder’s injury. “He’s got a possible tear of the ACL (anterior cruciate ligament), which would mean he’s done. We’ll do an MRI first thing in the morning and we’ll see.”
With Schexnayder out in the second half, San Jose no longer had to respect a possible deep threat from the Rattlers.
“We just didn’t have the speed and they came up and pressed us,” commented White. “Which means the quarterback needs more time and the combination of things was our downfall. We needed great pass protection in the second half without Calvin and we got worse pass protection. Offensively, that was our problem.”
“They came out and changed their game plan when it happened,” added Arizona quarterback Sherdrick Bonner about the changes in the second half. “They felt like they could challenge every one of our guys. Once they start pressing our guys, grabbing and holding them [at the line], it makes it tougher because then you’ve got to actually wait for a break-away… it takes a little more time.”
On defense, the Rattlers did nothing to show that they came into the game with the league’s top ranking in points allowed. San Jose quarterback Mark Grieb went most of the game untouched and had plenty of time to find his receivers. Overall, Grieb threw for over 300 yards and nine touchdowns, three of which went to the Ironman of the game, Barry Wagner.
“Defensively, it was kind of like last week,” said White. “We didn’t really stop them all night. We had to outscore them tonight to win offensively because of the way we were playing defensively. It was just kind of a disappointing night all over.”
“Early in the game it was obvious that Grieb had a lot of time to set his feet,” continued White. “There were times when we put pressure on. At the end of the first half we got some good pressure on him. There were a couple of times in the second half where I thought we did, but, for the most part, they were able to run counter routes and get deep because they had so much time in the pocket.”
The Rattlers won’t have much time to worry about this loss since the New York Dragons come to town next Saturday. Arizona will look to avenge an embarrassing 59-41 beating to New York, but both teams will be fighting for the right to reach the playoffs over the next two weeks. Over the past few seasons the Rattlers have not had to worry about making the playoffs, but this season has taken a much different turn.
“It’s a funny feeling,” commented Arizona wide receiver/linebacker Hunkie Cooper. “It’s not a situation I’ve been in. We’re resting our big guys by now, but it’s not that way around here any more. Nobody respects Arizona any more. We used to be a team everybody wanted to beat when everybody knew when they came here it was pretty much chalked up as a loss. It’s not that way any more.”
Overall, the San Jose game was a big test of character that Arizona just didn’t pass. Many times, a team will step up their intensity when a key player goes down, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
“The wheels just kind of came off when Calvin got hurt,” said a seemingly frustrated White. “That’s not a good sign in terms of the character of our football team. That’s up to each individual player to do something about. Now we’re fighting for our lives just to make the playoffs and if that’s not enough motivation then we’ve got the wrong guys.”
“We need every game from here on out,” added Gales. “If not, we’re going to go home early.”
Rattlers Playoff Picture
The loss ends any shot at the Western Division title and also means that the Rattlers probably won’t be able to earn a first round bye in the playoffs. Arizona was helped by the fact that both Buffalo and Detroit also lost on Friday night, which keeps the Rattlers a game ahead of both teams. Wins in the final two games would allow Arizona to host a first round playoff game, but two losses could potentially keep the Rattlers out of the playoffs for the first time since their inaugural season in 1992.
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.
