Story by: Will Ogburn
It was country night as the TampaBay Times Forum as the hometown Storm took on the Philadelphia Soul. Tampa wentinto the game at (5-6), one game back of the Predators’ lead in the AmericanConference – South. Philadelphia came in one decision better at (6-5), butthird place in the powerful American Conference – East division. The teamsprevious meetings had played out what amounted to a bloody stalemate, with eachwinning their home game by double digits. The difference in their last meeting and this one, however, was the returnof starting QB Randy Hippeard from injury. This game went down to the wire,testing the composure of both squads until the very end.
The first quarter was an offense-saturated affair with twohuge momentum swings going the way of the Storm. The Soul received and wastedno time in scoring, as Derrick Ross punched it in from the goal line. On theother side, Hippeard made his presence felt, as he hit Joe Hills on a hitchroute for a walk-in TD. On the next offensive play for Philly, defensive backJames Harrell turned the tables on Dan Raudabaugh’s pass, taking it backsixteen yards for a touchdown and the lead. Though the Soul scored to tie it upin less than four minutes, their next choice would prove costly. With twominutes left in the quarter, the Soul attempted an onside kick, which wasderailed by an offside penalty. That resulted in the storm not only having theball at the sixteen-yard line, but also walking it in on the next play.
In the second, Philadelphia came roaring back. They startedby making history, as fullback Derrick Ross crossed the goal line for an AFLrecord 128th time. With the score knotted at twenty-one, Hippeard and crewanswered, but the missed extra point by Juan Bogarra would be a cause ofconcern going forward. To make matters worse, Tampa Bay fumbled away a kickoffand an onside kick in the next two possessions. However, the Soul onlycapitalized on one of these opportunities because of the Storm stuffing DerrickRoss as the clock wound down to end the half.
The calm of halftime was quickly broken by a forty-yardtouchdown strike from Hippeard to Jackson. The Soul then scored on back-to-backpossessions, seemingly burying the Tampa in a 48-34 deficit, but the Stormweren’t done yet. Using one of the more interesting rules in the AFL, Hippeardbounced the ball off of one of the vertical nets to Hills for a score. After asuccessful two-point conversion, the quarter came to a close with TB trailingby only seven.
The fourth quarter saw more emotional swings than an episodeof Maury, as the Storm would fight tooth and nail to tie it up. It all startedwith a turnover on downs forced by the Tampa defense, who had a tremendous dayoverall. “It’s a credit to those guys on defense. It gave us a chance on offenseto go down and make a play,” said coach Samuels after the game. With the shortfield and plenty of time, it seemed like the Storm were destined to score. Fromstriking distance, Hippeard put it up against the net again, but this time itbounced into the hands a lone defender as the crowd went silent. All hopes of acomeback seemed to be doused as Hippeard stayed down, grabbing his leg. Butthen, with 3:21 left in the game and Philly driving, the Storm defense came upbig again. They forced a field goal, which was promptly missed and returned tothe Soul’s twenty-four yard line. Shortly after, Hills glided into the end zoneto tie the game. That would start the battle for the final minute of the game.
First, the Soul marched down the field, setting up a firstand goal. They tried and tried again, but the TB defense didn’t budge, bringingup fourth down with just under a minute remaining. Philly doubled down andbrought out the offense, but eight seconds later, their quarterback was on theground and the home crowd was as loud as their namesake. The injured Hippeardreemerged, and The Storm drove down the field quickly. Just six seconds aftergetting the ball, T. T. Toliver split the DBs like a butter knife and swoopedin for the go-ahead score. The crowd went wild, but it wasn’t over yet. “I wastrying not to score too early,” said Toliver on his catch. Soon, the offensewould be watching in agony as the Soul methodically marched down the field.With a full set of downs, the Soul set up on the goal line. The Storm defensethen bowed up, bringing up a final play with two seconds left on the clock. Thepass sailed wide and the benches cleared – their quarterback lifted above theirshoulders. Finally the Storm could enjoy their victory.
“We balled out,” said T.T. Toliver on their late-gameheroics “we came together and we had adversity. You’re gonna have someadversity in the game but you just gotta keep fighting.” That quote sums up theteams performance as a whole, as Hippeard “We’ve got each other and that’s allwe’ve got” echoed it.
Next week, the newly .500 Storm will travel to Iowa to takeon the Barnstormers. Because of the Predators’ victory tonight, they remainatop the division with four games left to play.