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Sunday, Jul. 19, 2009

Horsemen kick Peoria out of playoffs

last-minute field goal seals final home victory

Leave it to the kicker to boot a team out of the playoff race.

Doug Daniel's 27-yard field goal with 45 seconds left sealed a 43-34 Kentucky victory over Peoria, the Horsemen's final home game of the regular season.

Keep in mind that arenafootball2 goal posts are 9 feet wide and 15 feet high. (NFL standards are 181/2 feet wide and 10 feet high.)

Despite doinking an extra point off an upright and having a first-half field-goal attempt blocked, Daniel was plenty confident.

"You have to be. If you go out there with any doubt in your mind ... you're already setting yourself up for failure," Daniel said. "So every time, if it's an extra point or field goal, I'm always out there with the attitude that 'I'm going to make this.' "

The Horsemen (10-5) have won five consecutive games and seven of their last eight. They wrap up the regular season Saturday at Florida, trailing division-leading Tennessee Valley by one game, and with the playoffs on deck.

The Pirates (5-10) also lost to the Horsemen on Derby Day (May 2), 93-72. Saturday's loss eliminates Peoria from playoff contention.

Justin Rascati passed for 138 yards and two touchdowns and ran for two scores to lead the Horsemen. Alternate quarterback Jared Lorenzen threw for 112 yards and two scores but sat out the second half — except as the kick holder — because of a swollen left knee. That was the result of a scramble into the sideline wall, aggravated on the final play of the half when Daniel's 33-yard field-goal try was blocked.

Harry Lewis caught a touchdown pass from each quarterback, finishing with seven grabs for 105 yards. Lonnell Dewalt also had a TD reception from each quarterback, totaling seven catches for 67 yards.

J.T. Haskins led the defense with six tackles and one assist.

"I thought we did an excellent job, especially early in the game," Coach Mike Harmon said of his defense. "We gave up some touchdowns, but those things are going to happen in this game. Overall defensive effort, I was extremely proud of."

Dewalt's final touchdown catch, a tumbling, shoelace-scoop of a 15-yard pass from Rascati, came with 5:32 left. With Daniel's kick, it gave Kentucky a 40-28 lead.

"I'm glad I caught it, man," Dewalt said of his big catch. "We really needed a big play, so I was waiting for the ball and it came to me, and I made the play."

The Horsemen led 6-0 through one quarter, scoring on the first play from scrimmage. Lorenzen fired a bullet to Lewis for a 25-yard score.

"We knew that they had a possibility to go to the playoffs with a win," Lewis said. "So we wanted to jump on them quick, and luckily, Jared saw me up the sideline fast. He made a good ball, and I made a good route."

Peoria's first three possessions were stopped by a William Mulder interception, Fernandez Shaw's strip-and-recover from quarterback Luke Drone, and an Aaron Mason interception.

A 2-yard TD run by Rascati and a 7-yard Lorenzen-to-Dewalt score gave Kentucky a 20-0 lead.

Mike Hohensee, coach of the Pirates, went to backup quarterback Kent Smith and got results in three plays. A 15-yard completion, an 18-yard scramble and a 12-yard TD pass from Smith to Dante Ridgeway got Peoria on the board with 1:44 left in the half.

The Horsemen responded with their one-play-bomb-to-Lewis strategy. This time, Rascatti found the former Mason County star for a 33-yard score. A high snap on the PAT left it a 26-7 game.