Florida Tuskers

This Week

The Florida Tuskers remained undefeated after tonight’s 24-6 win over the struggling New York Sentinels at Rentschler Field in Hartford. With 5,201 in attendance, the Tuskers overpowered the Sentinels while keeping alive their hopes for a perfect season.     A complete box score can be obtained here.

Florida’s opening drive featured a 17-yard run up the middle by RB Tatum Bell but the drive stalled, forcing a punt.  Florida LB Terrence Melton then forced a Brian Bonner fumble on the New York 11-yard line.  Bell ran another 10 yards up the middle to set up a four-yard touchdown toss to Jayson Foster.

New York responded with a scoring drive of its own, marching down the field on a pair of WR Craphonso Thorpe catches and a 16-yard pass to TE Christian Hopkins to set up Piotr Czech’s 38-yard field goal. The 12-play, 53-yard drive narrowed the gap to 7-3 with 6:07 left in the first quarter.

Florida QB Brooks Bollinger answered with throws to five different receivers as he led the Tuskers on a 12-play, 65-yard drive.  Bollinger threw 28 yards to Marcus Maxwell and 18 yards to Frank Murphy to get them deep into Sentinels territory. The drive stalled on the New York 19 and Florida settled for Matt Bryant’s 38-yard field goal with 5:03 left in the quarter to put Florida up 10-3.

Sentinels QB Quinn Gray, who finished the first half 12 of 21 for 112 yards, directed a 14-play drive that featured two fourth down conversions to move into field goal range.  Piotr Czech converted from 44 yards out to pull the Sentinels to within 10-6 with 6:12 remaining in the half.

Florida then began another impressive drive that featured an 11-yard pass to Jermaine Wiggins, a 16-yard throw to Taye Biddle and a 23-yard strike to Michael Pittman to move the Tuskers to the New York 6-yard line.  From there, the Sentinels’ defense responded as Bell was hit and fumbled behind the line of scrimmage.  NY safety David Lofton recovered the fumble at the New York 19.

Gray drove the Sentinels 67 yards in 12 plays to set up a 1st and 10 at the Tusker 14 with 40 seconds left in the half.  Florida’s defense held, however, as Gray was hit on the next play and left the game with a hip injury.  He was replaced by Ingle Martin who on his second play threw an interception to Ricky Manning, killing the drive at the Florida 2-yard line.

The Tuskers kicked off the second half with a key 26-yard pass to WR Taye Biddle and then the Tuskers trio of running backs (Bell, Pittman, and Shaud Williams) took over. Each has rushed for at least 100 yards in a game this season, a feat only accomplished by the Tuskers.  Tatum Bell’s three-yard run put Florida up 17-6 with 8:15 left in the third quarter.

Needing a spark, the Sentinels again gambled on two fourth down plays.  After Thorpe’s terrific 27-yard grab got them to their own 44, Martin converted on fourth and one with a four-yard keeper. Three plays later, RB LaBrandon Toefield converted the second fourth-down try before the Tuskers stiffened and forced the Sentinels into a failed 47-yard field goal attempt by Czech.

New York never threatened again. After Florida drove down the field and scored on a Bollinger pass to WR Paris Warren, Chris Greisen was sent in to finish the game.  Bollinger finished 19 of 27 for 215 yards and two touchdowns. He leads the UFL with 1,305 yards, 13 TDs and only two interceptions to go along with a 69% completion rate.

Week Six concludes Saturday night with a pair of championship game hopefuls as the California Redwoods host the Las Vegas Locos at Spartan Stadium in San Jose.

Previously

The Florida Tuskers continued their unbeaten run through the UFL with a hard-fought 27-24 victory over the Las Vegas Locomotives on Friday night in front of 11,354 fans at Tropicana Field.  With the win and their 4-0 record, the Tuskers solidified an appearance in the inaugural UFL Championship Game on November 27.  The loss drops the Locomotives to 1-2 on the season.
 
“It wasn’t one of our better games,” said Tuskers’ Head Coach Jim Haslett. “Las Vegas mixed it up.  But I think the fact that we still won shows the character of the team.”
 
It was the Locomotives who came out with a head of steam to open the game. On the first play from scrimmage, Marcel Shipp busted off a 14-yard run.  But the Tuskers’ defense continued to show why it’s one of the top units in the UFL as they shut down Las Vegas on the opening drive to force a punt.
 
The defenses for both teams took over in each of the next few series as turnovers became the theme. In the Tuskers’ first offensive series, tight end Jermaine Wiggins fumbled on his own 29 and Locomotives’ linebacker Brandon Moore recovered.  The Tuskers’ defense responded as Jerome Carter, who started at free safety in place of the injured Dexter Jackson, picked off Las Vegas quarterback J.P. Losman in the end zone and returned the ball 81-yards to the Locos 19-yard line.  On Florida’s second play of the drive, quarterback Brooks Bollinger was intercepted by Trey Young while trying to reach running back Michael Pittman.
 
The first quarter ended with Las Vegas the more dominant offense as they controlled the ball for 11:55 compared to only 3:05 for the Tuskers. The Tuskers’ offense struck first to open the third quarter as wide receiver Marcus Maxwell scored for the second week in a row on a nine-yard touchdown pass from Bollinger (his 10th on the season) to give the Tuskers a 7-0 lead.  The Locos responded by marching down the field only to have the drive result in no points as kicker Graham Gano missed a 41-yard field goal.
 
Las Vegas’ defense then forced a three-and-out and after Todd Sauerbrun’s 20-yard punt, Locos’ Head Coach Jim Fassel went to his bag of tricks.  He dialed up a flea-flicker that resulted in a 60-yard touchdown from Losman to wide receiver Tab Perry, who beat safety Jerome Carter to tie the game at 7-7.
Tuskers’ Head Coach Jim Haslett responded with a gadget play of his own. Florida faked a punt and Shaud Williams scampered 29 yards to give the Tuskers a fresh set of downs.  Tuskers tight end Keith Heinrich then fumbled after a five-yard gain and the ball was recovered by Las Vegas defensive back Nick Turnbull, who returned it 43 yards to the Tuskers’ 22-yard line.  Locos’ running back DeDe Dorsey punched the ball in on the next play for a 14-7 lead.  Dorsey became the first running back to go over 100 yards against the Tuskers’ defense as he recorded 139 yards on the game.
 
“He (DeDe) is so explosive and just really, really good,” said Fassel. “Marcel Shipp is great, and at first we really used DeDe to keep Marcus fresh.  We will keep using (DeDe) more and more.”
 
For the first time all season, the Tuskers went into halftime trailing.  The teams traded points to start the third quarter. The Tuskers struck first as Bollinger again connected with Maxwell for a 46-yard touchdown to even the game at 14. Las Vegas responded with an eight-play drive that resulted in a 40-yard field goal by Gano. Florida kicker Matt Bryant would connect on a 30-yard field goal to even the game at 17.
 
Midway through the third quarter, the Tuskers’ explosive offense came to life on a seven play, 86-yard drive that was capped by a one-yard touchdown run by Tatum Bell, who led Florida with 65 rushing yards.  Las Vegas would answer quickly though as Dorsey rambled 71 yards to the Tuskers’ two-yard line.  On the next play, Losman found a wide-open John Madsen for a touchdown to even the score at 24.
 
Bollinger, the UFL’s leading passer, answered by driving his team down the field on a series that included the Tuskers’ longest pass play of the season, a 53-yard strike to wide receiver Taye Biddle.  A 40-yard field goal by Matt Bryant capped the drive and gave the Tuskers a 27-24 lead with 4:38 left in the game.
 
After each defense forced punts, Las Vegas had one last chance as they got the ball back on their own 22-yard line with 1:49 remaining.  They moved the ball to the Florida 35 yard line with 46 second remaining when on second and two Losman was sacked for a six yard loss by Tuskers’ nose tackle Claude Wroten. Two incompletions later, the Tuskers had recorded their second win over the Locos in two meetings this season.

Schedule