Our home opener is against a tough Cleveland Flats squad that boasts some very talented players. I've mentioned a few of them above - but a few others are worth noting. DT Chester Reed (playing DE) and S Alvin McCloskey are both former Toros - they were traded in the offseason to Cleveland for draft picks. I am quite certain they will be looking to show their former employer that doing so was a mistake. There's another former Toro on Cleveland's roster - backup RB Tito Sanders. He's a busted 2nd round pick of ours from 2005. He managed to stick to our roster as a return specialist for three seasons until we cut him after the '07 season. So there's some familiarity here.
Cleveland also has considerable talent at the offensive skill positions, along the O-line, and at their defensive front. This'll be a tough match, much tougher than one might expect from facing a team that was 6-10 a year ago.
On to the action!
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Box Score: Cleveland at Tucson
Tucson, AZ.
Week 2, 2009
Attendance: 67,000 (69,800).
Weather: 79 degrees, fair.
1Q: 08:20 CLE - Tony Oaks 54 pass from Ernest Lorenzo.
1Q: 08:20 CLE - J.C. Adkins extra point.
1Q: 01:36 TUC - Drew Holliday 3 run.
1Q: 01:36 TUC - Rubin Castorena extra point.
2Q: 11:10 CLE - J.C. Adkins 26 field goal.
2Q: 04:42 TUC - Anthony Torres 5 pass from Milan "Colonel" Hogan.
2Q: 04:42 TUC - Rubin Castorena extra point.
2Q: 01:07 CLE - Rusty McNeil 36 pass from Ernest Lorenzo.
2Q: 01:07 CLE - J.C. Adkins extra point.
3Q: 06:46 TUC - Drew Holliday 1 run.
3Q: 06:46 TUC - Rubin Castorena extra point.
4Q: 08:55 CLE - J.C. Adkins 52 field goal.
4Q: 01:56 TUC - Rubin Castorena 21 field goal.
Game MVP: TUC 4 Milan "Colonel" Hogan
Cleveland 7 10 0 3 - 20
Tucson 7 7 7 3 - 24
Team Statistics CLE TUC
First Downs 17 23
Total Rushes 22 37
Rushing Yards 77 129
Yards Per Carry 3.5 3.4
Pass Attempts 35 25
Completions 22 19
Passing Yards 304 209
Yards Per Attempt 8.6 8.3
Sacked 1 1
Yards Lost 6 5
Interceptions 1 1
Fumbles/Lost 1/0 2/0
Total Plays 58 63
Total Yards 375 333
Yards Per Play 6.4 5.2
3rd Down Plays 5/12 6/11
Avg. YTG on 3rd 7.2 5.4
4th Down Plays 1/2 0/0
Penalties 8 1
Penalty Yards 67 5
Avg. Drive Start OWN 33 OWN 39
Time Of Possession 27:28 32:32
Cleveland Individual Statistics
Rushing Att Yards Avg Long TD
29 Reed 13 41 3.1 7 0
47 West 8 30 3.7 13 0
11 Lorenzo 1 6 6.0 6 0
Passing Att Comp Yards Yd/Att Long TD Int Sckd
11 Lorenzo 35 22 304 8.6 54 2 1 1
Receiving Catch Yards Avg YAC Long TD
82 Chavez 6 87 14.5 23 20 0
88 Oaks 4 101 25.2 46 54 1
47 West 4 20 5.0 11 8 0
87 McCrae 2 26 13.0 7 18 0
85 McNeil 2 44 22.0 10 36 1
29 Reed 2 8 4.0 8 5 0
83 Hernandez 1 10 10.0 1 10 0
84 Wetherbee 1 8 8.0 2 8 0
Punt Returns Att Yards Avg TD
85 McNeil 1 23 23.0 0
Kick Returns Att Yards Avg TD
40 Foran 3 79 26.3 0
35 Bellisari 1 17 17.0 0
Punting Punts Yards Avg Long In20
7 Dowd 2 30 15.0 30 1
Kicking FG FGA Long PAT Att
15 Adkins 2 4 52 2 2
Defense Tackle Assist Sack Int IntYds IntTD
43 McCloskey 8 4 0.0 0 0 0
94 Thom 6 2 0.0 0 0 0
25 Stuart 6 2 0.0 0 0 0
96 Stoltzfus 6 1 0.0 0 0 0
92 Trujillo 5 2 0.0 0 0 0
42 Roy 4 2 0.0 0 0 0
90 Reed 3 0 1.0 0 0 0
55 Bussard 3 1 0.0 1 0 0
57 Ober 3 2 0.0 0 0 0
98 Delgado 3 2 0.0 0 0 0
23 Horn 3 1 0.0 0 0 0
77 Parsons 3 0 0.0 0 0 0
26 Means 2 1 0.0 0 0 0
93 Williamson 1 1 0.0 0 0 0
82 Chavez 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
40 Foran 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
32 Lobert 0 2 0.0 0 0 0
Miscellaneous Fumb FForc Recov MiscTD KeyRBlk SckAlwd
69 Denning 0 0 0 0 1 1
26 Means 0 1 0 0 0 0
11 Lorenzo 1 0 0 0 0 0
75 Brown 0 0 1 0 0 0
54 Poland 0 0 0 0 1 0
65 Johnson 0 0 0 0 1 0
90 Reed 0 1 0 0 0 0
Tucson Individual Statistics
Rushing Att Yards Avg Long TD
42 Holliday 29 106 3.6 22 2
22 Bradley 6 21 3.5 5 0
4 Hogan 1 -2 -2.0 -2 0
26 Jeffries 1 4 4.0 4 0
Passing Att Comp Yards Yd/Att Long TD Int Sckd
4 Hogan 25 19 209 8.3 28 1 1 1
Receiving Catch Yards Avg YAC Long TD
89 Armitage 5 56 11.2 7 18 0
82 Torres 5 60 12.0 30 22 1
26 Jeffries 4 27 6.7 18 10 0
80 Higginbotham 2 36 18.0 8 28 0
87 Sheehy 1 20 20.0 7 20 0
22 Bradley 1 2 2.0 0 2 0
84 Joyner 1 8 8.0 0 8 0
Punt Returns Att Yards Avg TD
Kick Returns Att Yards Avg TD
85 Garcia 4 90 22.5 0
88 Ramirez 1 23 23.0 0
Punting Punts Yards Avg Long In20
15 Winters 2 79 39.5 44 0
Kicking FG FGA Long PAT Att
13 Castorena 1 3 21 3 3
Defense Tackle Assist Sack Int IntYds IntTD
52 Wash 9 5 0.0 0 0 0
58 Watford 8 1 0.0 0 0 0
46 Bloch 5 3 0.0 0 0 0
29 McCloskey 4 1 0.0 0 0 0
31 Enoch 3 1 0.0 1 10 0
33 Mirer 3 0 0.0 0 0 0
75 Grier 2 0 0.5 0 0 0
25 Minahan 2 2 0.0 0 0 0
96 Stansell 2 1 0.0 0 0 0
70 Neubauer 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
30 Robbins 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
97 Horn 1 1 0.5 0 0 0
51 Crane 1 1 0.0 0 0 0
37 Rosenberry 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
4 Hogan 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
90 Jarrard 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
72 Bernard 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
Miscellaneous Fumb FForc Recov MiscTD KeyRBlk SckAlwd
71 Franck 0 0 0 0 3 1
64 Connell 0 0 0 0 4 0
78 Odum 0 0 0 0 3 0
26 Jeffries 1 0 0 0 2 0
4 Hogan 1 0 1 0 0 0
60 Poplawski 0 0 1 0 1 0
75 Grier 0 1 0 0 0 0
63 Pitman 0 0 0 0 1 0
Cleveland Drive Chart
Quar Began Poss From Plays Yards Result
1 10:09 0:10 OWN 41 1 0 Interception
1 8:31 0:11 OWN 46 1 54 Touchdown
1 4:06 2:21 OWN 20 3 2 Punt
1 1:36 5:26 OWN 27 11 64 Field Goal
2 4:42 3:35 OWN 34 9 66 Touchdown
2 0:08 0:05 OPP 33 0 0 Missed FG
3 15:00 3:25 OWN 20 8 31 Punt
3 6:46 4:46 OWN 31 8 38 Missed FG
4 14:15 5:20 OWN 20 9 45 Field Goal
4 1:56 1:54 OWN 28 9 25 Downs
Tucson Drive Chart
Quar Began Poss From Plays Yards Result
1 15:00 4:51 OWN 24 9 42 Missed FG
1 9:59 1:28 OPP 40 3 1 Missed FG
1 8:20 4:14 OWN 30 8 61 Interception
1 1:45 0:09 OPP 3 1 3 Touchdown
2 11:10 6:28 OWN 43 14 57 Touchdown
2 1:07 0:59 OWN 19 3 2 Punt
2 0:03 0:03 OWN 40 1 0 Half
3 11:35 4:49 OWN 19 9 81 Touchdown
3 2:00 2:45 OWN 38 5 18 Punt
4 8:55 6:59 OWN 14 10 82 Field Goal
4 0:02 0:02 OWN 47 1 -2 Game
Cleveland Red Zone Profile
Visits TDs FGs
1 0 1
Tucson Red Zone Profile
Visits TDs FGs
4 2 1
This was one helluva close game, featuring several painful moments for yours truly. Pulling off the win helps soothe that pain, but
damn I almost had a heart attack several times while watching this game on 3ric's viewer. Allow me to present a few of those moments to you, dear reader:
Our opening drive, which goes 42 yards before petering out:
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4-12-CLE34 (10:16) TUC 13 Castorena attempted a 51 yard field goal and missed wide to the right.
Okay, long but makable field goal attempt for a guy with a strong leg. Too bad he missed it, but not a terrible coaching decision.
We quickly get the ball back, as Lorenzo's very first pass is intercepted at midfield by S Enoch and returned to the CLE 40. Our next three plays only net one yard, and what does our coach do? He goes for the FG.
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4-09-CLE39 (08:38) TUC 13 Castorena attempted a 56 yard field goal and missed short of the crossbar.
A 56-yard attempt as a desperation kick I get. A 56 yarder in the 1st quarter of a 0-0 game makes no sense. Castorena has made those kicks before, but damn the coach AI can be stupid sometimes.
Of course, Cleveland's very first play after the missed FG is a 54 yard TD pass.
On our very next drive we march 61 yards to the CLE 9, and "Colonel" Hogan does this:
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1-09-CLE09 (04:14) TUC 4 Hogan pass was intercepted by CLE 55 Bussard in the end zone. Touchback.
Hogan's 91 rating in "Avoiding Interceptions" did us no good here. Instead of being tied or down 7-3, we're down 7-0.
The middle portions of the game were fairly straightforward (read: Drew Holliday gets on track and Hogan settles down), with us gaining a 21-20 lead in the 4th quarter. Late in the quarter we marched 82 yards from our 14, only to see our drive stall at the CLE 4. We kick the field goal at the 2-minute mark, and fear immediately settles in. I've seen this scenario too many times before - a successful 2-minute drill is coming, and I can feel it in my bones.
Cleveland returns the ensuing kickoff to their 28, and here's what happens next:
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1-10-CLE28 (01:48) CLE 11 Lorenzo pass completed to 88 Oaks for 60 yards (OOB).
I felt myself sliding toward a seizure, when I see the very next report:
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Penalty: CLE - Offensive Holding.
Cleveland went on to convert one 4th down play, but failed on another from our 47 to effectively end the game.
That was one gut-wrenching game.
Special congratulations need to go out to our interior O-linemen - I was very afraid that the two youngsters would get crushed by Cleveland's talented defensive tackles, but they, along with the veteran Odum, performed extremely well. As a group they were 8 for 19 in KRBs and allowed zero sacks. That's much better than I had expected. The game engine declared Hogan the game MVP, but if I had my way I'd have given it to this group.
In other good news, we sustained no new serious injuries. Odum and Neubauer got a bit banged up, but they should be good to go next Sunday.
Whew. We're 2-0 and face another tough test next week when Seattle comes to town. Stay tuned!