Talons Dominate in Tampa
Friday April 12, 2013
SAN ANTONIO, Texas - The San Antonio Talons [0-2] travel to take on the Tampa Bay Storm [2-0] at Tampa Bay Times Forum on Friday, April 12 2013 for their first road game of the season. The Talons are debuting new quarterback Nick Hill as he returns to his former home stadium as an opponent for the first time. The Talons are chasing their first win of the season while the Storm is looking to extend their win streak to 3-0.
The first quarter began with Tampa’s star quarterback McPherson running in a 28 yard Touchdown, but Bongarra failed to hit the extra point. Dwayne Eley Jr. answered back quickly for the Talons with a 58 yard kickoff return and Stefan Demos adding the extra point making the score 7-6. The Talons defense did a good job pressuring McPherson into throwing before he was ready. Bongarra hit a 29 yard field goal to give the Storm a 9-7 lead going into the second quarter.
The Talons struck first in the second quarter with a 1 yard pass from Nick Hill to Jomo Wilson. Stefan Demos added the extra point, bringing a 14-9 score in favor of the Talons. With less than 5 minutes left to play in the first half, McPherson hit Greg Ellingson with a 44 yard touchdown pass, but Bongarra failed his second extra point of the night. San Antonio answered back when Nick Hill found wide-receiver Burl Toler with a 7 yard pass and only 3 seconds remaining, putting the Talons on top 21-15 going into the half. According to the Tampa Bay broadcasters, the Talons definitely did not look like the 0-2 team that their record shows.
The Talons received the second half kickoff. Hill continued to outperform his Storm counterpart, Hill was 15/20 for 97 yards and 2 Touchdowns while McPherson was 6/15 for 80 yards.
The third quarter began with McPherson finding Hills for a 7 yard Touchdown pass and Bongarra missing his 3rd kick of the night. Talons D.J. Stephens answered back with a 50 yard kickoff return. The Tampa Bay special teams gave up two touchdowns making it 28-21 in favor of the Talons while Demos remained perfect on the night. Hill continued his hot streak as he found Eley with an 8 yard pass for a touchdown in the deep right corner of the end zone. Tampa would not give in as McPherson found a gap running in a touchdown for 10 yards. Bongarra finally found the uprights and hit his first extra point of the night bringing the score to 35-28 Talons going into the 4th quarter.
The Talons were not satisfied with their lead yet, Nick Hill secured a 25 yard touchdown pass to Jomo Wilson to kick off the 4th quarter and keep the excitement up for San Antonio fans. The Talons continued to make the right plays at the right time throughout the night. With less than 11 minutes left to play, Joe Sykes knocked McPherson down causing a fumble that was recovered and ran in for a touchdown by Ransom bringing the score to 49-28 Talons.
Shane Boyd entered in as quarterback for injured McPherson following the sack by Sykes, bringing Tampa to a total of 4 injured starters. Boyd found Joe Hills for a touchdown with 7 minutes left to go and a 49-36 ball game after Tampa secured the 2 point conversion. San Antonio recovered the onside kick allowing Demos to make a 23 yard field goal to reach the final score of the night 52-36 with 3:48 remaining.
Nick Hill had a great night with 4 touchdowns and completing 66 percent of his passes for 187 yards. Hill favorite Tolor, Wilson and Eley in tonight’s game making it a true team effort. The skill of Stefan Demos cannot go unnoticed as he remained perfect on the night. The Talons defense was a force to be reckoned with the entire game with standout defensive players Joe Sykes and Tim McGill pressuring McPherson’s passing game. Sykes posted 2.5 sacks, 4 tackles, a forced fumble and 3 quarterback hurries. San Antonio is now 1-2 on the season as they travel to Arizona next weekend to take on the Rattler’s Saturday April 20, 2013 at 8:00pm CST. For more information or to inquire about season tickets please call 210.227.TEAM.
