Kicking, Defense Key As the Storm Improve To 7-0
Joe Kauffman
Tuesday June 5, 2001
Would the Storm, who won those first six games by an average margin of 22 points, be able to come back from a three-point deficit having only eight seconds remaining in the game?
“I knew we were going to do it,” said Willie Wyatt, who returned to the Storm last week after taking a year off from the Arena Football League. “If you don’t believe, then you’ve already lost.”
Wyatt and his teammates, who had not been tested late in a game all season, did believe.
“Mike [Black] came to me and told me to get the ball to the 15 yard line,” said Storm OS James Bowden, who returned the kickoff that followed the Cobras’ go-ahead touchdown. “I get it to the 15, and he’ll kick it in. He said not to worry about running it all the way back, just get it to the 15.”
Bowden was only able to return the ball to the 13 yard line, but thanks to some home-cooked time keeping, only one second ran off the clock, leaving the Storm with enough time to run one more play before attempting a game tying field goal.
“It was probably closer to 1.3 seconds,” Bowden said after the game with a wide grin.
After a ten-yard completion to Bernard Edwards on the sideline, Storm kicker Mike Black trotted onto the field to attempt a game-tying 43 yard field goal. Only 2:55 earlier, Black had missed from a similar spot on the field.
“The first long field goal attempt was a fluke,” said Storm QB and place kick holder John Kaleo. “It just went to the right.”
“The missed field goal at the end bothered me,” said Black, whose second kick sailed straight and true, sending the game into overtime. “I’m glad I got another opportunity. I just tried to correct what I did wrong on that miss and it worked out.”
“We’ll give him all the credit in the world,” said Storm head coach Tim Marcum. “We’re sure glad that he made one out of two. That’s why we got him; so that when we get in situations like that, he can go in and make the play.”
The overtime period was all Tampa Bay. After winning the coin toss the Storm drove down the field efficiently, with Kaleo hitting James Bowden for three straight completions, his 13th through 15th of the game. After a short run by Andre Bowden, Kaleo hit WR/DB Harvey Middleton in the end zone to give the Storm a seven-point lead in the extra period.
After having set the Storm’s single-game reception record with his 15th reception on the drive, James Bowden was not jealous that someone else made the big touchdown grab.
“Of course I want the ball, but any Storm receiver is capable of getting it done,” said Bowden. “Harvey [Middleton] stepped up and made the game winning catch. We have numerous receivers that can get it done.”
Of course, Arena Football overtime cannot end with a single possession, so Carolina would still get a shot at tying up the game and forcing sudden death. But the Storm defense, which had been beaten more than usual by the Cobras, had something else to say about it.
After McNair completed a six-yard pass to Kevin Jackson, he then threw two incompletions, bringing up a fourth down.
McNair never had a chance.
“I would bull rush and Coach [Marcum] kept telling me to just bull rush [the Carolina center]. On the last play, that’s what I did. He stepped on the quarterback and Pig [Goff] came around and got the sack. We were just trying to get there.”
The Cobras gave the Storm a run, but in the end, the undefeated Storm remained just that, winning the game 58-51 in front of a season high 13,942 fans.
“We started out slow tonight,” said James Bowden. “Carolina is the best team that we’ve faced. They’re a great team. Coach Kay had a great game plan against us and they started off good, but the final score is what counts.
Coach Marcum was happy to escape with the win.
“It’s always a good game to come out and win on a short week like this. I was concerned if we would be able to last through the fourth quarter and make plays. That’s usually when the other team has the fresh legs. Those are when the plays are made against you. I’m very pleased that it didn’t happen tonight and I think we’ve got a football team that’s in fairly good condition. We’ve been able to win. [The players] think they can win in the fourth quarter and that goes a long way in trying to find a way to win. That’s what we’re doing right now. We’re finding a way to win.”
Up Next for the Storm
The Tampa Bay Storm travel up the road to Orlando for the first 2001 installment of the “War On I-4.” This is the 27th meeting between the two teams, who have played each other at least twice every season since 1991. The series is tied at 13-13, including 1-1 in ArenaBowls. The game will be televised live on Sunday at 3pm as TNN’s Arena Football Game of the Week.
Joe Kauffman is President and Editor in Chief of Arenafan Online, having joined the staff in 2000. He graduated from Florida State University in 1998 with a degree in communications andbuilds ecommerce sites for a day job. Joe has enjoyed Arena Football since 1991 and has been a member of the Arena Football Internet community since 1995. Prior to Joining Arenafan, he was a co-founder and Technical Editor of the Storm Shelter, which covered the Tampa Bay Storm from 1996-99. Joe and his wife Erika live in Hackettstown, New Jersey with their two daughters.
