No Nightmare This Time
Andrew Mason
Saturday June 17, 2000
Call it Nightmare on Trumbull Street.
In the original, the Sea Wolves strode to a 5-2 start, then were carved up, limping into the off-season with seven straight losses. They endured a hellish end-of-season slate that included predictably unsuccessful trips to Albany, Arizona and Tampa Bay.
But the sequel appeared to be far scarier.
This season, the Sea Wolves` 5-2 start was a precursor to greatness. Rookie quarterback Chad Salisbury, at the cusp of becoming the league`s next NFL prospect, was lost for the season in the process of defeating the Buffalo in Week 7. So, too, was offensive specialist Damian Harrell.
With those two curses of fate, the film began rolling. The sequel was in production. Losses to the previously winless Los Angeles Avengers and San Jose SaberCats, followed by a 10-point fourth quarter deficit against the Carolina Cobras, threatened to turn the highlight reel into a horror show. But as any student of film knows, horror films often end with a protagonist or two surviving, warding off the threat of the villain -- for at least the moment. On Friday night, that Hollywood ending took place 3,500 miles away in Hartford.
Following a 19-yard touchdown pass from Tim Carey to Charlie Davidson on the first possession of overtime, Anthony Derricks — the near-hero of Week 9 after he returned a league-record four kickoffs for touchdowns in a losing effort — became the toast of Trumbull Street, returning an interception 34 yards for a touchdown and a 64-51 win.
 Derricks has been the Sea Wolves hero for the last two games. Here he returns a kickoff against San Jose. Image courtesy of Robert Babcock |
"We needed this thing, and our goal is to get into the playoffs," head coach Mike Hohensee said. "I think six wins will get you in, and I think seven or eight wins may even allow you to host a game."
If New England does qualify for the playoffs, it will do so without Harrell, Salisbury and the most recent addition to the list of prominent injured players, Tony Henderson, who was lost for the season in the loss to the SaberCats with a broken bone in his hand.
"A loss tonight would have been very difficult (to overcome)," Hohensee concluded.
But after the late heroics, New England has the boost it needed desperately. Call off the film crews for Nightmare on Trumbull Street 2; for the first time in two weeks, the Wolves will get a good night`s sleep.
Andrew Mason was at the Tampa Bay Storm`s first home game on June 1, 1991 and has followed the game ever since. While in college, he served as content editor and co-founder of The Storm Shelter, a Web site which covered the Tampa Bay Storm on the Internet from 1996-99. He also volunteered with the team`s media relations department in 1998 and currently contributes to ColoradoCrush.com. He's covered the NFL for various on-line outlets since 1999.
