Hawks Get First Win
Dallas Dunn
Tuesday May 30, 2006
The Hawks started the game with a great drive by QB Brian Baker and ended with Tavarius Davis making a fantastic change of direction run for a 2 yard touchdown. The Hawks defense then held the Lighting to a missed field goal try. The rest of the first quarter went back and forth but ended with the Hawks leading 7-0.
The Lighting even the score early in the second quarter but the Hawks continued their great play with a 7 yard touchdown from Baker to Davis to make the score 14-7 Hawks. The fans loved it and they had the feeling maybe this could be the night. I spoke with several fans sitting in the lower bowl and they all told me that there seems to be more life in this team. "They seem like they want to win more than they did earlier in the season."
The second quarter continued to go back and forth with Stockton finally getting the best of the quarter and the teams went into the half with the score Stockton 27 – Hawks 21.
At halftime I spoke to some fans waiting for refreshments’ and they told me they hope that the "Hawks come back in the third fired up like they did in the first and pull this one out." All of the fans in the arena were in full support of their team. I kept hearing that this team will turn it around, we believe in them. Every fan I spoke to me told me how much they loved the game and it was time for the Hawks to get their first win. One missing piece tonight was the cheerleaders. I spoke with numerous fans who were asking where they were. All I could find out was that they did not show up for the game. I will follow up on this in a later story.
The third quarter found the Lighting receiving the kick off and driving the length of the field, ending in a 3 yard QB sneak for the touchdown, with 12:12 left in the third the score was 34-21 Lighting, but things would get worse before they got better, on the next possession for the Hawks QB Baker threw a interception on 4th and 3 from the 6 yard line. Now the Lighting had both the ball and the lead drove down the field and scored again. With the score 40-21 Lighting things were starting to look bleak for the Hawks.
The fourth quarter found the Hawks on the comeback and they quickly got back on the track with a 7 yard touchdown pass from Baker to Myers to close the gap to 40-28 Stockton. After a failed on side kick attempt the Hawks defense stepped up and stopped the Lighting from scoring from inside the 5 yard line. John Fields returning from a groin injury helped ignite the defense which ended with 2 sacks and fumble recovery all in the 4th quarter. The Hawks started their drive at their own 2 yard line. With 4 nice passes by Baker they drove the length of the field and scored with on a 3 yard touchdown pass to Brockman. Now the score was 40-34 Stockton.
With 5:30 left in the game the crowd got so loud that they caused 2 false start penalties against the Lighting, this helped the Hawks defense get a sack and fumble recovery and now they were in business. The Hawks took the ball and struck quickly with a tremendous 13 yard touchdown from Baker to Brockman, where he went up and grabbed the ball with one hand and brought it down in the middle of traffic to tie the score. After the PAT the score was 41-40 in favor of the Hawks.
With a little more help from the fans the Hawks defense held and they got the ball back with the lead and 1:00 left in the game. Baker made 2 great running plays to run the clock out and the Hawks had there first win 41-40 over the Stockton Lighting.
After the game I spoke to Coach Wells who said that the team "pulled it out" and that "it felt good to get that first win." I asked Coach Wells what made the difference and he said that "every player on this team has touched every step in this building" and "they have been run to the point where they are not tired in the 4th quarter and that made the difference."
With the team making lots of personnel changes in the last couple of weeks it was good to see that QB Brian Baker (in his first start) and WR’s Hassan Brockman, Tavarius Davis and Milton Myers are already on the same page working well together for 336 passing yards of and 5 touchdowns. Baker told me "it was great to get this win for the fans, we are still learning each other but we believe we will only get better." Brockman lead the team with 14 catches for 117 yards and 2 touchdowns was named offensive player of the game. He said "it was great to get this win for our coaches; it feels great to finally get a win. Coach has had us run these steps here so much I feel I own this arena." I have a feeling with the win tonight Coach will continue the trend of running the steps.
Dallas Dunn has been an Arena Football League enthusiast since he
first attended a Tampa Bay Storm game in 1991. He graduated from Nova
Southeasten University with a Bachelor's Degree in Management. He has
spent the last 18 years in the Army and is currently stationed at Fort
Lewis, Washington with his wife Stephanie. He covered the Columbus
Wardogs during their inaugural season of 2001 for Arenafan and is now
covering the Everett Hawks.