By Melissa Potes
EBC Florida Bureau
ORLANDO, Florida (Eagle News) — In an entertaining matchup between non-conference opponents the Orlando Apollos and the Arizona Hotshots, the Hotshots sealed a 22-17 win and broke out of their slump after an advantageous penalty with four seconds remaining in the game.
Quarterback Garrett Gilbert and the Apollos started out strong scoring on a touchdown on their initial possession for the second game in a row, but Arizona’s secondary tested the Apollos’ offense for much of the night. Uncharacteristic of Gilbert’s play, he threw his first interception and lost his first fumble of the season.
After trading field goals for much of the first and second quarters, the Hotshots took a lead 14-9, going into the half on a 9-yard pass from QB John Wolford to running back Jhurell Pressley.
During a scoreless third quarter riddled with penalties, Apollos LB Terence Garvin was ejected from the game. As the fourth quarter heated up, the Apollos would regain the lead after a 17-yard touchdown pass from Gilbert to wide receiver Jalin Marshall.
Arizona would not back down, as Pressley would score on a 1-yard run on a drive that was aided by a pass interference call on the Apollos. Completing their 2-point conversion, the Hotshots would retake the lead with more than five minutes left in the game.
Things were looking promising for the Apollos as they drove into Arizona territory. Gilbert however, fumbled the ball and the Hotshots recovered with less than two minutes remaining. The Apollos’ defense then held Arizona to a three-and-out, forcing the Hotshots to punt the ball with 55 seconds left in the game.
Starting at the Apollos 18-yard line, Gilbert would work his magic for a 48-yard pass to tight end Sean Price and another 23-yard pass to Marshall to get to the Hotshots 8-yard line with four seconds left. However, as Gilbert spiked the ball, a false start penalty was called and a 10-second run off was assessed, ending the game in favor of the Hotshots.
Arizona Head Coach Rick Neuheisel was proud of the team’s win.
“At the end of the day, when you’re coming off a 3-game losing streak, you gotta find some grit. And I’m very proud of my team for finding that,” Neuheisel said. “And while it wasn’t the exact way we wanted to close out the game, we’ll take it…hopefully stay alive in the west side of the Alliance and get back into this playoff hunt.”
Apollos’ Head Ball Coach Steve Spurrier admitted that it wasn’t their best game.
“They [Hotshots] played very well. We didn’t play our best,” said Spurrier. “We still got way too many careless penalties and got thrown out of the game for slugging and that’s an embarrassment to me and the defensive coaches that we can’t teach our guys to play by the rules. It was a loss, we had our chances, but it didn’t work out for us.”
(Eagle News Service)
