Georgia Force fall to 0-2 after losing to Tampa Bay 69-48

Saturday March 8, 2008

TAMPA BAY, FL – The Georgia Force struggled to overcome early turnovers and unfortunate bounces as they fell to the Tampa Bay Storm 69-48. The receiving duo of Carl Morris and Troy Bergeron led the Force offense and newly acquired WR Willis Marshall provided the club with a much needed spark on special teams. Morris finished the game with a team-high 13 receptions for 133 yards with three touchdowns and Bergeron posted 12 grabs for 138 yards with two touchdowns. Marshall tallied a Force single-game record 184 kickoff return yards on nine attempts in his Force debut.

At the end of the first quarter of play, Georgia trailed Tampa Bay by score of 14-7. The Force opened the game with a 47-yard kickoff return by Marshall to the Tampa Bay six-yard line. Georgia failed to produce points after a fumbled snap was recovered by Storm WR/LB Lawrence Samuels two plays later. Tampa turned the turnover into seven points when QB Brett Dietz threw a screen pass to WR Sedrick Robinson for a five-yard touchdown. Georgia responded with a five-yard touchdown pass from QB Chris Greisen to Bergeron. The Storm scored the final points of the quarter with an eight-yard scoring strike from Dietz to WR Terrill Shaw.

In the second quarter the bounces continued to be in favor of the Storm as they held a 31-20 lead heading into the half. Georgia began the quarter with a leaping grab by Morris from three yards out for a touchdown. Morris was almost thrown over the boards, but his long reach allowed him to touch the ball in the endzone before that could happen. The Storm’s ensuing drive resulted in a field goal, but there kickoff following the score bounced off the bottom bar of the nets and was recovered by Robinson of Tampa Bay for the touchdown. Both teams would add a touchdown before the end of the first half. Force DB Jacoby Shepherd tallied his first interception of the season to end the Tampa scoring threat, which kept the Force within two scores at the end of the half.

Georgia failed to trim the Storm lead in the third quarter as Tampa Bay stretched their lead to 14 points, 48-34, heading into the final quarter of play. Greisen added two touchdown passes in the quarter with one to Morris and the other going to Bergeron. Tampa’s defense created another turnover as Greisen’s pass was deflected at the line of scrimmage and was intercepted by DE Tom Briggs in the endzone.

The Force was unable to cut into Tampa’s advantage in the fourth quarter as the Storm outscored Georgia 21-14 in the final frame.

SCORE             1          2          3          4          TOTAL
GA                     7         13        14        14        48
TB                    14        17        17        21        69      

PASSING
GA – Chris Greisen                  30-42-319-5-2
TB – Brett Dietz                        21-34-190-7-1

RECEIVING
GA – Carl Morris                     13-133-3
TB – Hank Edwards                 7-82-2

RUSHING
GA – Chris Greisen                  4-6-2
TB – Torrance Marshall            1- -3-0

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME: QB Brett Dietz, TB
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME: DL Tom Briggs, TB
IRONMAN OF THE GAME: WR Sedrick Robinson, TB