Orlando Fights Through Adversity To Win War on I-4 Again
Adam Markowitz
Sunday April 20, 2014
ORLANDO -- They don't call it the War on I-4 for no reason. Saturday night might have marked the first time that the UFC made its way to Orlando, but perhaps the best fight of the night in the City Beautiful came out of the Orlando Predators. The Preds had to fight through just about everything that an AFL team could have to get through in a record-breaking 77-65 win over the Tampa Bay Storm.
The Preds started a man down, as only 20 players ended up suiting instead of the league standard 21. Jeffrey Solomon, who was acquired from the Portland Thunder earlier in the week, was left off of the active roster, keeping the team a man down at the start.
Orlando also made plenty of moves to its roster after losing its last two games, moving Arness Ikner out of the lineup and replacing him with the newly acquired Tracy Belton, who was picked up to close out the Aaron Garcia trade with the Jacksonville Sharks. Tanner Varner moved from the jack linebacker spot to DB at the start of the game, and Phillip Thomas, who was reassigned by the team early last week and was recalled later in the week, played at the jack. With Braylon Bell still injured, the wide receiving corps was limited as well. Michael Simons also stepped into the fullback spot after the team put Chris Jamison on inactive reserve.
And that was before the adversity really started to kick in. Cortez Stubbs and Belton were both injured during the game, but both had to fight through it. Belton only had four days of practice with the Predators before suiting up in this one. Stubbs then had to move to the jack linebacker position when Thomas was ejected for a fight at the end of the first half. That caused Orlando to essentially be one defensive back short, which prompted Gerald Young and Greg Carr to split duties as a third defensive back.
That wasn't all. Khalil Paden was injured in the third quarter and didn't return to the game, then Young was dinged up as well and had to leave. Not only was Carr playing both sides of the ball on every play, but so too was Varner, who stepped in and played wide receiver for virtually the whole second half.
On top of that, with all of the injuries, Wilson Masoud had to play on special teams, while Jason Boltus had to play kick coverage as well at one point.
"I can't put 330 pounders out there," said Preds coach Rob Keefe on the topic of his kick coverage team. "It was probably one person away to being a coin toss where who was the most athletic offensive lineman to put on that field."
I've heard of Ironman football, but this wasn't quite that. It was basically gladiator football and combat at its finest. Orlando had every reason to fold up shop at the end of that game when the Storm punched it in the mouth, but the 16 guys left out there at the end of the game were giving everything which they had on each and every snap. I'm not sure which I was more proud of on the evening. The Ironman football was great, but the "Tampa Sucks" chant which started in the third quarter at CFE Arena was heartwarming and reminded me of the good old days when these two teams really did genuinely hate each other, and it showed on the field.
"The entire second half, he was on every single play," said Rob Keefe after the game of Varner. "He's one of those guys I always count on. Tanner is the guy who can get the job done."
On top of everything else, Varner also served as the up-man on kick return team, a gunner on the kick coverage team, and is the team's long snapper in spite of the fact that he is badly undersized in relation to the fullbacks and linebackers who generally snap for extra points.
In and amongst it all though, the Predators had to fight through this one, and fight they did. They stormed out to their best start in a game of the season, scoring the first 14 points without answer, and they really never looked back from there. The offense was only stopped once on the day, and it came when matters were essentially settled. The defense, in spite of the 65 points allowed, had a much better game than the statistics will show. Randy Hippeard may have thrown for nine touchdowns and ran in one of his own, but he was under duress all night long in the pocket and was forced into some bad situations.
The Preds went into the final play of the half up 41-26, but over the course of the next five plays from scrimmage, the Storm cut that lead to 41-39. The teams traded scores from there to make it 47-46. Tampa Bay had a chance to stop the Preds, but a pass interference penalty and a roughing the passer penalty, and a 40-yard touchdown pass on 2nd and 30 proved to be the beginning of the end for the Storm. Orlando successfully recovered an onside kick following that score and capitalized two plays later to go up 61-46 at the end of the third.
It was the first time in Predators history they scored more than 60 points through three quarters of a game. The unit ended with 77 points, the most ever scored at home in a game in team history. It was also the highest point total for any team in the AFL through six weeks of play.
"We stood up the entire offense in a meeting, and I said "Sit down if you've played more than four games of arena football before this season." Not one person sat down," said Keefe. "That's the offense that we have, and we put up 77 points tonight. It's only going to get better."
Boltus finished by throwing for 365 yards and nine touchdowns, giving him three straight games with at least eight scores and four straight games with at least 330 passing yards. He also had a rushing touchdown, giving him 10 scores in total. Boltus and Hippeard became the first two players this year to account for 10 touchdowns in a single game. Boltus tied a Predator record with six first half touchdowns.
All nine of Boltus' passing scores came from at least 19 yards away. He averaged 12.5 yards per play which he touched the ball and 13.5 yards per pass attempt, both of which are season-highs in the AFL. Twenty of Orlando's last 21 offensive touchdowns have covered at least 11 yards.
Carr not only scored on a two-point conversion interception return, but he had seven catches for 145 yards and four TDs. Carr now has at least seven receptions in four straight games, and he has 35 catches, 552 yards, and 14 TDs in his last four games combined.
Hippeard threw for 380 yards and nine scores. Toliver moved into sixth place all-time in career receptions, surpassing James Roe in this game. He had 12 catches for 136 yards and five TDs in his first game with the Storm. The Bethune-Cookman product now has 921 career receptions. He also became the ninth man in league history to go over the 12,000-yard mark for his career in this one.
The 77 points scored was both the most ever by either team in this series. The 142 combined points was the highest total score reached in any of the versions of the War on I-4. Orlando now leads the all-time series 28-26.
Courtesy of the Jacksonville loss to the Philadelphia Soul, the Preds effectively have a game and a half lead on the entire Southern Division. They have clinched the regular season series with Tampa Bay by taking the first two games of this rivalry this year with just one left to play. The Sharks are 1 1/2 games behind Orlando with a third of the season completed.
The Predators finish a three-game home stand next Saturday night against the New Orleans VooDoo.