Avengers Earn Win with Attitude, Resilience
Andrew Mason
Sunday June 4, 2000
But as the team gathered together to stretch, one heard laughter and excited yelps reaching towards the rafters of the building. Fullback/linebacker Andy Chilcote exacted smiles from his teammates with a smart remark about the mellow strains of Jackson Browne coming through over the public address system. Certainly, this wasn`t the grim, downcast attitude one would expect from a team still searching for its first win after seven stultifying weeks of defeat.
"The character of the veterans helped us stay positive through the losing streak," coach Stan Brock said. "I think they believe. And I think they just really got tired of losing."
The losing finally stopped for the expansion franchise when Kevin Cobb got a hand between Sea Wolves WR/DB Kerry Brown and the ball in the end zone on the game`s final play, preserving the Avengers` 50-46 win.
While an upset, it can`t be considered a shocker. Not when the very reasons for the Sea Wolves` impressive 5-2 start -- quarterback Chad Salisbury and offensive specialist Damian Harrell -- watched from the sidelines after a disastrous win at Buffalo that saw them both incur season-ending injuries.
"That`s not the same team (without Salisbury and Harrell)," Brock conceded. "I`m not stupid enough to stand here and tell you that we beat the Sea Wolves that went 5-2. We beat a team that`s playing a rookie quarterback."
That rookie quarterback -- Tim Carey, late of the Indoor Professional Football League`s Hawaii Hammerheads -- proved reasonably effective, passing for 267 yards and four touchdowns. But in the fourth quarter, he made one costly error, a pass across the middle into heavy traffic that Larry Thompson turned into six points following a 47-yard interception return.
That play turned the game against the Sea Wolves for good. It allowed Los Angeles to forge a 43-43 tie – whereas just moments before, New England had been pushing for a 50-36 lead. One possession later, another ill-advised toss – a third-down shovel pass from the Avengers’ seven-yard-line – forced the Sea Wolves to settle for a field goal and a fragile 46-43 edge.
That set the stage for Todd Marinovich.
The much traveled Marinovich had managed to settle down following a skittish first quarter that saw him fail to complete a pass. His second-half numbers -- 11-for-17, 137 yards, four touchdowns, no interceptions -- as well as a cool touch on the Avengers’ final drive allowed him to earn his first win as a starter since 1992, when he was still a Raider.
"You want to put yourself in a situation like tonight, where you have a chance to win at the end," Marinovich said. "It`s no different than in life. You get bounced around, kicked around, but as long as you come back and fight hard, you`re going to catch a break, and we did."
In meandering from Los Angeles to Winnipeg to British Columbia and back to L.A., Marinovich learned a thing or two about getting bounced around. Now, he knows a thing or two about winning an Arena Football game, which gives this infant franchise its first true ray of hope.
INSIDE THE WALLS:
…Seven may be a lucky number to most, but to the Sea Wolves, it might as well be 13. Consider the following: A seven-game losing streak to close the 1999 season after a 5-2 start; Salisbury and Harrell both going down with injuries last week at Buffalo, in Week Seven; Harrell`s number -- which he probably should avoided when the team handed out jerseys -- is, of course, No. 7.
…Avengers WR/DB Anthony Rice has to take a bow after turning in one of the oddest touchdown passes in recent memory. On a second-and-goal play from the Sea Wolves` one-yard-line in the second-quarter, Rice tried to sweep around left end, then reversed his field to the right, fading back to the six-yard-line. Seeing no holes and facing a wall of New England defenders, he shot-putted a barely-spiraling, almost end-over-end pass that found Larry Thompson in the end zone for the score.
…It wasn’t just the emergence of Marinovich or the depleted Wolves’ roster that helped Los Angeles, but Brock’s decision to turn into something of a taskmaster following a 78-25 loss at San Jose last week. “We got our ass kicked last week in San Jose … and I worked the players very hard,” Brock said. “They came and answered the bell. I am excited for those guys because it just makes it easier to go and explain to them that hard work does pay off..”
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.