Riptide Win on Last Second Field Goal
Keith Antigiovanni
Wednesday May 15, 2002
Coming into the Hawaii game the Riptide looked to easily defeat the struggling Islanders especially after Hawaii changed Head Coaches late last week but the sloppy play by Hawaii seemed to rub off on the Riptide. All game long though the Riptide made big plays as well as big mistakes. “I was not pleased with our performance. We put the ball on the ground 6 times. We were lucky to get out of there with a win, “Morris said.
The Riptide fumbled 6 times on the night losing 3, committed 8 penalties and continued to struggle on defense giving up numerous third and fourth-down conversions. San Diego was without Marty Graham for the second time in three weeks due to injury but QB Kane Claunch kept the offense on track throwing four touchdown passes and rushed for another. The Riptide ground game continued to roll as Melvin Blue and Jason Burk added touchdown runs.
The first-half was wild as San Diego led 33-30 despite turnovers, penalties and defensive breakdowns. Fortunately for the Riptide the Islanders were just as sloppy committing silly personal fouls which gave San Diego excellent field position throughout the first half.
There wasn’t as much scoring in the second half but there was still plenty of excitement. Claunch led the Riptide on two more scoring drives as San Diego upped its lead to 49-37 early in the fourth quarter. The defense came up with a stop deep in its own territory but then the offense couldn’t move the ball. QB Darnell Arceneaux scored on an 11-yard touchdown run to cut San Diego’s lead at 49-44 with just under five minutes remaining. The Riptide managed to get to the Hawaii six-yard line and on fourth down with just under a minute to play decided to run a fake field goal but Rico Curtis was stopped just short of the first-down marker giving Hawaii one last chance. The Riptide defense forced Hawaii into fourth-and-the game but again allowed the Islanders a first-down deep in San Diego territory. Three plays later Hawaii scored on what looked to be the game-winning touchdown pass from Arceneux to Robert Kempner with 7 seconds remaining.
On the ensuing kickoff Ryan Smith reached midfield to set up the game-winning kick for San Diego.
“Even though I thought we played poorly I am pleased with the win. We got guys stepping it up every week and we just got to keep improving every week,” Morris said.
The Riptide will try to get over .500 this week as they travel to Fresno to face the winless Frenzy.
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.
