Injury-Plagued Riptide Fall to Twisters 75-51
Keith Antigiovanni
Monday April 29, 2002
“Our offense, especially the line did a much better job blocking this week but our defense didn’t make the plays when it had to,” Riptide Head Coach Cree Morris. Arkansas scored touchdowns on 11 of its 13 possessions and moved the ball at will on the undermanned San Diego defense. The Riptide were without its best pass-rusher and sack leader Ryan Cuthbert, starting defensive back Aazaar Abdul-Rahim and starting defensive specialist Kevin Burton who has been out since the first half of opening week.
After taking a pounding the previous week against Tulsa San Diego quarterback Kane Claunch played impressively throwing five touchdown passes despite the fact that the Riptide’s leading receiver in almost every category and af2 leader in all-purpose yards Marty Graham was out with an injury. Without Graham the other receivers, Ryan Smith, Scot Nicholson and the newly signed Jerry Garrett stepped up and contributed touchdowns. The line also played better after getting overrun by a much bigger Tulsa line two games ago. The Riptide faced the af2’s top defense and top team in quarterback sacks. To San Diego’s credit, they were still able to put up 50 points without their best offensive weapon. “We played much better and made some steps in the right direction. My line played tough,” Morris said.
The kicking situation for the Riptide continues to struggle as place-kicker Brad Bohn missed two of three extra points and hit the scoreboard on a kickoff after the Riptide pulled to within eight points in the second quarter. The Riptide attempted two-point conversions for the remainder of the game.
Despite the loss San Diego can be encouraged by the way its hung in and played against two (Tulsa and Arkansas) of the top teams in the league the past couple of week. This week the Riptide return home to play Louisville and will get Marty Graham back while Kevin Burton and Ryan Cuthbert are also close to returning.
Keith Antigiovanni is a free-lance writer in San Diego, California. He has worked for several local newspapers covering sports, government and business. Keith started writing in 1995 after graduating with a Bachelors Degree in Mass Media Communications from the University of San Diego. Aside from working as a sportswriter he has a side business of providing marketing assistance/research for small businesses and also directs,produces and hosts a regular public access television show on Time-Warner Cable named "San Diego Yesterday". Antigiovanni is also a member of the San Diego Sportswriter Association.
