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ORLANDO 54, TAMPA BAY 51: The defense makes big plays only to have refs take the gains away, keeping the Predators in control from start to finish.
By FRANK PASTOR
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 10, 2003
ORLANDO -- They were game-changing plays, every one of them.
Keita Crespina returned a Rick Hamilton fumble 44 yards for a Storm touchdown. Al Lucas pounced on a Jay Gruden turnover for another score.
Lawrence Samuels recovered a Travis McGriff fumble to stop Orlando near the goal line. And Corey Sawyer broke up a pass to give the Storm one last chance to win a game it trailed from the start.
Or so it thought.
All four plays were nullified by officials, preventing the Storm from overcoming its lone offensive miscue in a 54-51 loss before 13,521 Sunday at TD Waterhouse Centre.
Bucs coach Jon Gruden and defensive tackle Warren Sapp were in the crowd. NBC cameras followed the action. But controversial calls by the officials drew the most attention in the latest meeting between arena football's biggest rivals, which gave the Predators (2-0) a leg up on the Storm (1-1) in the Southern Division.
"It just seemed that whatever we did, it wasn't the right thing," Sawyer said.
In a game in which quarterbacks Gruden and John Kaleo passed for six touchdowns and the offenses combined for almost 600 yards, one defensive stop proved pivotal.
With his team leading 21-14 early in the second quarter, Orlando lineman E.J. Burt forced a Kaleo fumble in the end zone, and linebacker Ricky Wood recovered to give the Predators a two-possession lead.
Even that play was disputed.
"I thought the guy was offsides," Storm coach Tim Marcum said. "That's my opinion, and I'm entitled to my opinion. The film will show it, I'm sure the director of officiating for the National Football League will review this, and he will take action accordingly."
Kaleo answered Wood's touchdown minutes later with a 10-yard pass to former Predator Clif Dell, pulling the Storm within 27-21.
The real controversy started on Orlando's next possession.
Lucas' apparent touchdown was nullified by an offsides penalty on Kelvin Kinney. Four plays later, officials ruled Hamilton down by forward progress before his fumble, negating Crespina's touchdown return.
Down 37-35 midway through the fourth, the Storm needed a stop to move ahead. But Samuels' apparent fumble recovery was erased when McGriff was ruled down by contact at the Tampa Bay 1. Four plays later, Brian Schmitz kicked a 25-yard field goal to give Orlando a five-point lead.
The Storm had one last chance.
Trailing 54-51 with less than a minute left, Tampa Bay forced Orlando into third and 18 from its 9 after a BJ Cohen sack. But Gruden completed a 40-yard post to Thabiti Davis, giving the Predators a first down at the Storm 1.
Tampa Bay defensive back Hurley Tarver injured his knee on the play, and a postgame diagnosis revealed a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
Still, the defense held, and the Storm appeared to regain possession when Sawyer broke up Gruden's fourth-down pass for Cory Fleming in the end zone. But Sawyer was penalized for pass interference, giving Orlando a first down and a chance to run out the clock.