Utah fans are quickly learning that the Arena Football League is different than the outdoor game.
Take Saturday night's Utah Blaze game in the Delta Center, for instance. The Blaze, at one point, scored three touchdowns in 13 seconds. They had a dozen touchdowns total for the game. Joe Germaine, the Blaze quarterback, threw 10 touchdowns passes. Utah's star receiver, Siaha Burley, grabbed six TD scores and had 16 catches for 259 yards.
And the Blaze lost.
In the second-highest scoring game in AFL history, New York downed Utah 84-81.
The Blaze came close to both winning the game and making it the highest scoring game ever in the league in the final seconds, but after driving to the 11-yard line, Germaine's final pass fell incomplete as time expired and the Dragons had held on for the win.
New York improved to 2-1 with the victory, while the first-year Blaze fell to 1-2 and are still in search of their first home victory.
The Blaze had the ball on the Dragons' 11 with 5.3 seconds left. Utah coach Danny White, a 14-year veteran in the league, felt that would be plenty of time to run a play to go for the win and still have a second or so remaining for a potential game-tying field-goal attempt if the pass was unsuccessful.
"That play should have taken three seconds and then we would have kicked a field goal and gone into overtime," said White. "You go for the win first . . . There was still a good second left on the clock when the play was over (but the clock didn't stop). There was a whole lot of people who could take the blame for the loss, and our clock operator is one of them."
The Blaze would not have been in a position to need a last-second touchdown if they had been able to play some defense. Incredibly, New York scored touchdowns on all 11 possessions their offense had the football — 10 on passes by QB Aaron Garcia. Their 12th score came on a 54-yard kickoff return by Kevin Swayne, who also hauled in four touchdown scores.
"Our defense had no clue tonight," said White. "We weren't good enough not only physically, but mentally as well."
Garcia, in fact, had just two incompletions on the night, going 24-of-26 passing for 354 yards.
"I can't live with games like this," said New York coach Weylan Harding. "They're too hard on me. It was a great game, a typical Arena game, back and forth."
Germaine was nearly as effective as Garcia, completing 35-of-45 passes for 444 yards, but he fumbled the ball twice.
The Blaze led 49-34 at the half, despite falling behind by as many as 15 points early, thanks to an incredible stretch at the end of the second quarter. The Dragons muffed three consecutive kickoffs, which were all recovered by the Blaze.
The Blaze scored three — count 'em — three touchdowns in the final 13 seconds of the second quarter and five touchdowns in the final four minutes alone. Utah had four straight scores in the final two minutes without Garcia and the Dragons' offense even touching the football, much to the delight of the 15,213 home fans.
"Things can change very, very quickly in this game," said White.
Both teams scored a dozen touchdowns. The difference, however, was that Utah had two extra points blocked and missed on a two-point conversion try.
The Dragons erased the Blaze's 15-point lead in the third quarter by scoring four touchdowns in the period — including on a kickoff return by Swayne. Utah, meanwhile, managed "only" two scores in the third on a pair of Germaine touchdown passes. After Utah's second TD of the quarter, however, Steve Videtich's extra point was blocked.
Utah regained the lead early in the fourth on a Germaine to Tom Pace touchdown pass, but again Videtich's extra point was blocked and the Blaze led 68-62 with 13:17 to play. The Dragons actually regained the lead on their next possession when Garcia hit Swayne for a 12-yard TD and, with the ensuing extra point, New York led 69-68 with 9:17 remaining.
Utah again took the lead on a 25-yard strike from Germaine to Orshawante Bryant, but the two-point conversion fell incomplete. After Garcia hit Mike Horacek for a 38-yard strike, the Dragons went for two and were successful, giving them a 77-74 lead with 4:01 to play.
Once again, Utah went ahead on an 18-yard strike from Germaine to Burley with just over a minute to play, but the Dragons scored last on a 26-yard pass from Garcia to Mike Horacek to finish the scoring with 22 seconds remaining.
"That's what happens so often in this game. It comes down to the last score," said Utah lineman Hans Olsen. "If you score you win, if you don't you lose."
And the Blaze lost.
The Blaze will head to Arizona to play the Rattlers — the team White coached for 13 seasons — next Saturday in Phoenix. Several members of the Blaze — including Germaine and Burley — played for the Rattlers last season.
BLAZE NOTES: Dragons WR/DB Matthew Thomas, injured late in the first half, was wheeled off the field on a stretcher as play was halted for several minutes. Thomas was taken to Salt Lake Regional Medical Center where he was diagnosed with a concussion. He had movement to his arms and legs, however, and is expected to fully recover . . . Former BYU linemen Jason Andersen was one of the four players on the roster who was put on the inactive list prior to the game again. AFL teams can carry up to 24 players on their rosters, but only 20 can dress for games. The other three inactive Blaze players included injured defensive specialist Kelvin Hunter, FB/LB Chris Robinson and lineman Craig Kobel.
E-mail: lojo@desnews.com
Dragons 84
Blaze 81