Hoping to use last week's last second victory over the Madison Mad Dogs as a catalyst, the Texas Bullets (2-7) ventured into the Denver Coliseum Sunday afternoon to take on the Colorado Wildcats (7-0). However, it was clear by game time that the Bullets would be short handed due mainly to injuries, work conflicts and travel problems.
Out for the game were many starters and those with significant playing time including: John Henry (RB), Brent Moore (WR), Brent Alford (WR) Butch Hadnot (RB), Sean Berry (WR), Tyrone Clayburn (LB), Bobby Craig (CB) and Derrick Womack (DB).
The Bullets had to juggle their lineup considerably, especially on defense, which the Wildcats took advantage of early in the game. On defense, starting free safety Adrian Coe was forced to play cornerback. Anthony Allen, who normally splits time at free safety and "rover" back was forced to play safety all afternoon. Tim Cook, perhaps the teams most versatile lineman, became a last minute replacement at rover. Although the Bullets defense played with great tenacity, the lack of practice time for the players who were playing out of position allowed Colorado to move the ball efficiently and quickly on the ground. The Wildcats completed only 3 passes in 11 attempts.
With trouble brewing on the offensive side of the ball as well, Head Coach and Offensive Coordinator Wayne Stigler had to make some quick changes. With only two prepared receivers, Stigler tabbed Brad Ericson as the starting quarterback so that he could use Marc Saldana at the other receiver position. At running back, newly signed Lamont Randle joined Greg Bower in the backfield. Bower, who normally competes for playing time at linebacker and defensive line, became the obvious choice for fullback as he had blocked often as a tight end in his college days at Texas.
Ericson got off to a shaky start which included two pass interceptions that were returned for touchdowns before the first half was over. In Ericson's defense, one of the interceptions appeared to come on a busted route play. "Brad was put in to a tough situation this week with all of the new people in the backfield and at receiver," stated Stigler. "I had planned on starting him this week to shake up Colorado (as Ericson is right handed and Saldana is left handed), but when I first decided to go that route I thought most if not all of our other starters would be able to play."
Saldana relieved Ericson in the second quarter and engineered several scoring drives including two touchdown plunges by Saldana and one by Trey Burk. Burk, normally an offensive lineman, bowled his way over the Colorado defense for a short touchdown run. The Bullets repeated the play as Burk added the two point conversion.
The biggest blow on offense was the loss of John Henry for the game. Henry, who entered the weekend as one of the top runners in the league, was declared medically unfit to play on Friday morning. "We had hoped that by not having Henry practice all week, he would be able to go on Sunday," Stigler said. "However, there wasn't enough time for him to heal enough." The Bullets expect Henry, and several others, back this Saturday night when they host the Louisiana Bayou Beast at 8:00 p.m. at the Bell County Expo Center. Colorado has a bye, but will return to action against the Green Bay Bombers at home on June 20.
Texas Bullets 2 9 6 11 28 Colorado Wildcats 9 27 6 9 51 First Quarter Tex- -Billy Watkins 2 point field goal 0-2 Col-4:25-Bucky Logan pass from Jason Torres, Tim Thennell PAT failed 6-2 Col-0:05-Thennell 38 yd field goal 9-2 Second Quarter Col-13:04-Floyd Johnson 33 yd interception return, Thennell PAT 16-2 Col- 7:45-Tim Wright 9 yd run, Thennell PAT failed 22-2 Col- 5:17-Jesse Tann 15 yd interception return, Thennell PAT 29-2 Tex- 1:35-Marc Saldana 1 yd run, Saldana pass failed 29-8 Col- 0:56-Darnell Brooks 28 yd run, Thenell PAT 36-8 Tex- 0:05-Watkins 35 yd field goal 36-11 Third Quarter Tex-4:25-Saldana 1 yd run, Watkins PAT failed 36-17 Col-1:45-Thenell 3 yd run, Thenell PAT failed 42-17 Fourth Quarter Tex-13:37-Watkins 39 yd field goal 42-20 Col-10:25-Thenell 18 yd field goal 44-20 Col- 5:25-Antonio Chandler 45 yd pass from Thenell, Thenell PAT 51-20 Tex-2:56-Trey Burk 1 yd run, Burk run 51-28 Team Stats Colorado Texas First Downs 5 7 Rushing Passing Penalty Rushing Attempts 19 20 Yards Rushing 111 41 Net Passing Yards 81 112 Passes Attempted 11 29 Passes Completed 3 16 Had Intercepted 0 2 Total Offensive Plays 30 49 Total Net Yards 192 153 Fumbles: Number-Lost 0-0 0-0 Penalties: Number-Lost 10-48 8-118 Missed Field Goal Returns NA NA Kickoff Returns: No.-Yards 3-56 8-118 3rd Down Conversions NA NA 4th Down Conversions NA NA Sacks by: Number-Yards 1 1 Interception Returns: 2-48 0-0 Possesion Time NA NA Individual Stats Rushing-C-Brooks 10-107-1, Thenell 3-3-1, Wright 1-1-1; T-Lamont Randle 8-20, Saldana 4-3-2 Receiving-C-Chandler 1-46-1, Logan 1-35-1, Thenell 1-5; T-Lee McCormick 5-44, Randle 5-4, Tyrone Clyaburn 4-32, Unavailable 2-32 Passing-C-Torres 2-4-81-2-1, Thenell 1-7-5-0-0; T-Saldana 10-18-81-0-1, Brad Erickson 6-11-29-0-1 Field Goals-Unavailable PATS-C-Thenell 4-7; T-Watkins 0-1 Kickoff Returns-Unavailable Missed Field Goal Returns-Unavailable Interceptions-C-Johnson 1-33-1, Tann 1-15-1 Tackles-C-Jonhson 11, Galbreath 6, Tann 3, Jackson 7, Billington 2, Royster 6, McDonald 2, Barnett 5, Gordon 7, Mason 5; T-Moore 1, Coe 3, Blake 3, Cook 4, Henderson 2, Ewing 3, Lloyd 5