It was nice to get back to .500, but we need to keep winning to have any hopes of realizing the preseason predictions of us winning our first division title. Next up is another down-on-their-luck foe in the Sacramento Dragons. As with Huntington Beach, they've got plenty of talent but just have not been able to win this year. We have to take advantage of their temporary weakness and steal a win here - if we're to have any hope of turning this season around.
Code:
Box Score: Tucson at Sacramento
Sacramento, CA.
Week 8, 2009
Attendance: 62,700 (71,000).
Weather: 45 degrees, fair.
1Q: 02:19 TUC - Daryl Bradley 2 run.
1Q: 02:19 TUC - Rubin Castorena extra point.
2Q: 07:09 SAC - Branden Eastman 43 field goal.
4Q: 14:55 SAC - Branden Eastman 53 field goal.
4Q: 01:03 TUC - Drew Holliday 1 run.
4Q: 01:03 TUC - Rubin Castorena extra point.
Game MVP: TUC 4 Milan "Colonel" Hogan
Tucson 7 0 0 7 - 14
Sacramento 0 3 0 3 - 6
Team Statistics TUC SAC
First Downs 21 13
Total Rushes 30 25
Rushing Yards 109 100
Yards Per Carry 3.6 4.0
Pass Attempts 34 35
Completions 21 16
Passing Yards 200 142
Yards Per Attempt 5.8 4.0
Sacked 4 0
Yards Lost 36 0
Interceptions 0 2
Fumbles/Lost 1/0 2/0
Total Plays 68 60
Total Yards 273 242
Yards Per Play 4.0 4.0
3rd Down Plays 5/14 5/15
Avg. YTG on 3rd 8.4 6.6
4th Down Plays 0/0 0/1
Penalties 4 8
Penalty Yards 20 52
Avg. Drive Start OWN 30 OWN 29
Time Of Possession 32:24 27:36
Tucson Individual Statistics
Rushing Att Yards Avg Long TD
42 Holliday 23 87 3.7 18 1
22 Bradley 6 23 3.8 6 1
4 Hogan 1 -1 -1.0 -1 0
Passing Att Comp Yards Yd/Att Long TD Int Sckd
4 Hogan 34 21 200 5.8 24 0 0 4
Receiving Catch Yards Avg YAC Long TD
82 Torres 6 46 7.6 20 11 0
80 Higginbotham 5 60 12.0 4 24 0
89 Armitage 3 35 11.6 1 18 0
88 Ramirez 2 14 7.0 5 10 0
42 Holliday 2 10 5.0 5 5 0
87 Sheehy 1 6 6.0 4 6 0
22 Bradley 1 8 8.0 9 8 0
30 Robbins 1 21 21.0 0 21 0
Punt Returns Att Yards Avg TD
22 Bradley 1 10 10.0 0
Kick Returns Att Yards Avg TD
85 Garcia 2 33 16.5 0
88 Ramirez 1 23 23.0 0
Punting Punts Yards Avg Long In20
15 Winters 7 325 46.4 56 4
Kicking FG FGA Long PAT Att
13 Castorena 0 2 0 2 2
Defense Tackle Assist Sack Int IntYds IntTD
37 Rosenberry 8 1 0.0 0 0 0
32 Hartung 5 1 0.0 0 0 0
55 Trujillo 4 2 0.0 0 0 0
72 Bernard 4 2 0.0 0 0 0
95 Stoltzfus 4 0 0.0 1 0 0
33 Mirer 4 0 0.0 1 0 0
75 Grier 3 2 0.0 0 0 0
52 Wash 3 1 0.0 0 0 0
46 Bloch 3 0 0.0 0 0 0
40 Biggs 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
61 Eaddy 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
90 Jarrard 1 1 0.0 0 0 0
87 Sheehy 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
70 Neubauer 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
22 Bradley 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
56 Brkich 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
96 Stansell 0 3 0.0 0 0 0
73 Smith 0 1 0.0 0 0 0
25 Minahan 0 1 0.0 0 0 0
Miscellaneous Fumb FForc Recov MiscTD KeyRBlk SckAlwd
64 Connell 0 0 0 0 1 2
63 Pitman 0 0 0 0 3 1
61 Eaddy 0 0 0 0 4 1
82 Torres 1 0 1 0 2 0
78 Odum 0 0 0 0 3 0
87 Sheehy 0 1 0 0 0 0
32 Hartung 0 1 0 0 0 0
71 Franck 0 0 0 0 1 0
Sacramento Individual Statistics
Rushing Att Yards Avg Long TD
44 Rounds 20 82 4.1 16 0
6 Barre 4 16 4.0 7 0
21 Harrison 1 2 2.0 2 0
Passing Att Comp Yards Yd/Att Long TD Int Sckd
6 Barre 35 16 142 4.0 24 0 2 0
Receiving Catch Yards Avg YAC Long TD
23 Burnett 3 21 7.0 6 12 0
83 Stearns 3 35 11.6 4 19 0
44 Rounds 3 18 6.0 9 8 0
46 Edwards 3 10 3.3 7 4 0
87 Sturgeon 1 24 24.0 2 24 0
86 Rice 1 11 11.0 0 11 0
42 Hernandez 1 7 7.0 0 7 0
88 Kuhlmann 1 16 16.0 1 16 0
Punt Returns Att Yards Avg TD
41 Stith 4 44 11.0 0
Kick Returns Att Yards Avg TD
47 Schwartz 2 56 28.0 0
88 Kuhlmann 1 10 10.0 0
Punting Punts Yards Avg Long In20
3 Palmer 6 237 39.5 45 2
Kicking FG FGA Long PAT Att
1 Eastman 2 3 53 0 0
Defense Tackle Assist Sack Int IntYds IntTD
45 Gonzales 10 1 0.0 0 0 0
55 Willoughby 7 3 0.0 0 0 0
96 Burks 6 3 2.0 0 0 0
94 Hooten 5 1 0.0 0 0 0
41 Stith 5 1 0.0 0 0 0
30 Jones 5 1 0.0 0 0 0
92 Lamontagne 4 1 0.5 0 0 0
40 Cundiff 3 0 0.0 0 0 0
93 Stagner 2 1 1.0 0 0 0
24 Stine 2 4 0.0 0 0 0
56 Castro 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
90 Buehler 1 1 0.5 0 0 0
87 Sturgeon 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
27 Neal 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
23 Burnett 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
83 Stearns 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
85 Lang 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
47 Schwartz 0 1 0.0 0 0 0
Miscellaneous Fumb FForc Recov MiscTD KeyRBlk SckAlwd
53 Hartman 0 0 1 0 3 0
94 Hooten 0 1 1 0 0 0
65 Davidson 0 0 0 0 2 0
68 Close 0 0 0 0 1 0
6 Barre 1 0 0 0 0 0
41 Stith 1 0 0 0 0 0
Tucson Drive Chart
Quar Began Poss From Plays Yards Result
1 10:18 7:59 OWN 8 14 92 Touchdown
2 15:00 3:56 OWN 22 8 43 Missed FG
2 7:09 1:36 OWN 18 3 -4 Punt
2 4:26 1:17 OWN 43 3 6 Punt
2 1:48 1:20 50 5 21 Missed FG
2 0:14 0:14 OWN 37 1 4 Half
3 15:00 2:01 OWN 32 3 3 Punt
3 7:17 2:08 OWN 8 5 23 Punt
3 3:58 1:54 OWN 20 3 7 Punt
4 14:55 3:33 OWN 23 6 21 Punt
4 10:29 0:58 OPP 46 3 -1 Punt
4 6:47 5:44 OWN 41 13 59 Touchdown
4 0:01 0:01 OWN 40 1 -1 Game
Sacramento Drive Chart
Quar Began Poss From Plays Yards Result
1 15:00 4:42 OWN 15 9 33 Punt
1 2:19 2:19 OWN 31 3 8 Punt
2 11:04 3:55 OWN 42 7 32 Field Goal
2 5:33 1:07 OWN 37 4 14 Interception
2 3:09 1:21 OWN 14 3 7 Punt
2 0:28 0:14 OWN 36 2 11 Interception
3 12:59 5:42 OWN 26 9 21 Punt
3 5:09 1:11 OWN 30 3 6 Punt
3 2:04 2:09 OWN 46 5 18 Field Goal
4 11:22 0:53 OWN 13 3 1 Punt
4 9:31 2:44 OWN 20 7 46 Missed FG
4 1:03 1:02 OWN 40 5 20 Downs
Tucson Red Zone Profile
Visits TDs FGs
2 2 0
Sacramento Red Zone Profile
Visits TDs FGs
0 0 0
Not a pretty win, but we'll take it. Our opening drive, which went 14 plays for 92 yards and a TD, was a thing of beauty. After that, though, we were pretty ineffective on offense. Sacramento continually short-circuited our drives and kept us from taking advantage of several great starting field positions. But our defense was up to the task of keeping Sacramento out of the end zone - we were especially effective against Barre, who had a poor day overall.
A note on CB Keven Biggs - he's been hurt a bit this season and thus has played in just three games, but he's been astronomically good in those three games. In each game he's defended more passes than he's allowed, for a total of 4 passes caught vs. 9 passes defensed. That translates into a PDPct of 25! I know kind of performance won't last, but damn he's been playing well.
And while we're talking about pass defense, how's about Stoltzfus' game? The mammoth DT not only registered a couple of hurries, but he managed to pick off a pass! Nice job Harold!
Ken Wickes Deathwatch: our humble coach again opted to try a long-range, low-probability field goal in the 2nd quarter of a game (this time a 52-yarder). Castorena of course missed it, giving Sacramento great field position and, ultimately, a cheap FG. If ownership loosens the coach-salary pursestrings this offseason we'll almost certainly be looking for a new guy. If not, then we'll have to look for a kicker with less Kicking Power to reduce the temptation to go for those long kicks all the damned time.
Castorena didn't do much to convince us to keep him around by missing a 46 yarder, either.
Next up: the final stop on our tour of the San Andreas division, at home vs. Long Beach.