Queens, New York, May 15, 2004
The New York Sharks (5-0) came back home to find themselves sitting on top of the Mid Atlantic division by themselves after a hard fought victory over the Chicago Force. The question was whether there was going to be a let down as they took on the Bay State Warriors (0-4). The Warriors are having a rough season after going undefeated last year. With the loss of many key players, they seem to be in a rebuilding year. While the Sharks have been winning, their offense has been struggling mightily, but Bay State seemed to be just the right kind of tonic for the team.
Council woman Melinda Katz and council man Dennis Gallagher were on hand to perform the coin toss. To add to the pre-game festivities, R & B singer James “D-Train” Williams, a native of Brooklyn, sang the National Anthem.
Bay State won the coin toss and elected to receive. Eventually it was all down hill from there for the team from Massachusetts.
After forcing Bay State to punt, the Sharks seemed to open up their offense a bit more than in previous games. Quarterback Val Halesworth went back to pass on first down, but could not find any open receivers so she ran up the middle and gained 30 yards. This brought the Sharks deep into Warrior territory at Bay State’s 23-yard line. New York stumbled a bit, with a run and a pass play that netted no yards, this brought up a 3rd down and 10 situation. It would have been a disappointment if they couldn’t put some points on the board after getting so far, but the Sharks didn’t disappoint. Halesworth found her favorite target Jen Blum wide open in the middle of the field for a touchdown. Kicker Jenny Graf was stuck in traffic, so Andra Douglas came in to kick the extra point but it was blocked. New York had an early 6-0 lead with 7:42 left in the first quarter.
New York’s defense has been main reason the Sharks are undefeated and Bay State’s offense was overmatched. The Sharks defensive was able to consistently penetrate the Warrior’s offensive line and disrupt hand-offs and make sacks. On the next series for Bay State, Donna Spilotras had a sack, the Sharks stopped the running back behind the line of scrimmage for a 2-yard loss, and then Lynn Lewis and Spilotras got to the quarterback again.
The Sharks started in decent field position at the 50-yard line after a Warrior punt. With a mix of runs and passes, New York marched down the field in 5 plays, scoring on a 12-yard run by Monica Marsh with 2:55 left in the quarter. With Graf still missing, punter Nikki Gwinnett decided to give her foot a try but the kick was blocked. Still the offense was showing the offensive prowess it had last year with a 12-0 lead.
On the ensuing kick-off, Warrior woes continued. Bay State fumbled the return and it was quickly recovered by Michelle Brown at the Warrior’s 39-yard line. Again working with a short field, the New Yorkers made Bay State pay dearly by scoring on 8 plays. The big play was a 28-yard pass reception from Halesworth to Dana Donahue Sparling. This brought the ball down to the 5-yard line. The Sharks finally punched the ball through on a 1-yard keeper by Halesworth. On the extra point, the Sharks decided to go for two points, and Halesworth called her own number to get the deuce. This made the score 20-0 with 14:56 left to go in the second quarter.
Defense helped set-up the next score. The Warriors were able to stop the Sharks on Bay State’s 37-yard line. Punter Gwinnett came in and booted the football to the 11-yard line. There was no return as the Sharks were on the returner almost as quickly as the ball got there. New York continued to rush in to the Warrior’s backfield and forced another fumble. Veronica “Vicious” Simmons recovered the football on the 1-yard line. On the very next play, Halesworth threw a short pass to Courtney Eaton who then plowed past the goal line. Gwinnett missed her second extra point attempt, but the Sharks widened the lead to 26-0 with 9:14 left in the quarter.
Later in the second quarter, Bay State fumbled again and the Sharks recovered the ball on the Warrior’s 35-yard line. It was another gift and it soon became another touchdown. Halesworth was spreading the wealth around hitting 3 different receivers to move the ball down to the 10-yard line. She then handed the ball off to Marsh who scored her second touchdown of the day. Graf was finally able to get to the park, but her kick went wide. The rout was on as the score was now 32-0 with 5:19 left to go in the half.
As the half started to wind down, the Sharks were dealt a hard blow. Guard Vivian Alberty was injured during a running play and had to leave the game on a stretcher. She went to the hospital where x-rays were taken and were found to be negative, but she will undergo an MRI later and the prognosis at this point is not good. New York is already hurting with running back Virginia “Cha Chi” Leon and defensive back Alice Wong out for the season with torn ACL’s.
The half ended on a lighter note. It was a sunny, but warm and muggy day in New York city. Game time temperature was in the 80’s and rising. Even though she is injured, Leon is still on the Sharks side line giving encouragement and helping out whenever she can. Just before the last play of the half, she went out on to the field and squirted water into the mouths of Shark receiver Sparling and Warrior defender Kim Boroyan. On the next play, Halesworth looked for Sparling in the endzone only to have Boroyan pick off the pass to end the half. Leon hobbled over to Boroyan and demand that she spit that water back out. Both players had a good chuckle.
The second half got no better for Bay State as the Warrior’s miscues continued to bedevil the team. After forcing the Sharks to punt from New York’s 25-yard line, Bay State coughed the ball back up as they fumbled the kick. The Sharks recovered the ball on Bay State’s 45-yard line and two plays later it was another New York score. The big play here was a 39-yard touchdown reception to Karen Mulligan. It started off as a short 10-yard pass, but a nice block by Kathy Holloman opened up the sideline and Mulligan rambled into the endzone for the score. Graf came in and kicked the extra point. Despite only playing 5 games, Graf tied the Shark’s mark for most extra points in a season with 6.
With the game firmly in hand, Douglas came in to play quarterback in the fourth quarter for the Sharks. Immediately the team’s owner was given a golden opportunity as the Warrior’s botched a punt attempt deep in their own territory, giving New York the ball on Bay State’s 10-yard line. Douglas did not waste it and hit Blum on a fourth down and goal to go from the 4-yard line. Graf’s kick was blocked, making the score 45-0 for the final tally of the game.
The Sharks offense definitely showed some life today as they came out throwing for 254 yards on 36 pass attempts. The running game was also huge, racking up 179 yards. Defense was a stone wall as usual, giving up only 45 yards on the ground and 26 yards in the air. But the major factor in the game were the Warrior turnovers. Five times, Bay State fumbled the football and four times, the Sharks scored a touchdown. Another New York touchdown came on a botched punt attempt. The Sharks made some of the opportunites and seized on most of them.
The offensive game ball was given out to Mulligan for her 4 catches for 78 yards and a touchdown and the defensive game ball went to Brown for numerous tackles that stopped the Bay State ball carriers from gaining any positive yards.
The victory was the Sharks fifth of the season and extended their regular season winning streak to 25 games. It was also the team’s third shutout of the year and their 21st shutout in team history. The Sharks remain at home next week for the biggest game of the regular season. The Sharks will be hosting the division rival Chicago Force. This game will most likely determine who will win the Mid Atlantic division title.
The last time these two teams met was in Chicago, last week. It was a tough bruising battle with New York coming up on top with a 6-2 victory. The Force are looking for revenge and a shot at the division crown. Game time is 3pm, next Saturday on May 22nd. It will also be New Mexico Day as the Sharks will be honoring the 36th state of the union. This is our way of thanking radio station KEDU, our flagship station, for broadcasting all of our games to the fans. There will be give-aways and New Mexico related festivities at the ballpark, so we hope to see you there.
If you cannot make it the park and don’t want to miss any of the action from what will be an exciting football game, you can hear all of the action live from New York on www.kedu.us, our flagship station. The broadcast will start at 2:45pm (EDT). Because of the heavy interest in the last Chicago-New York game, we hit the maximum limit so tune in early or you can become a VIP listener. VIP listeners will not be shut out of a broadcast due to the limit. You can get a 5-day free trial pass or you can purchase the pass for $3.65/month.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bay State Warriors | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| New York Sharks | 12 | 20 | 7 | 6 | 45 |
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
NY – (07:42) Blum 23 yard pass from Halesworth (kick failed)
NY – (02:55) Marsh 12 yard run (kick failed)
Second Quarter
NY – (14:56) Halesworth 1 yard run (Halesworth run)
NY – (09:14) Eaton 1 yard pass from Halesworth (kick failed)
NY – (05:19) Marsh 10 yard run (kick failed)
Third Quarter
NY – (06:40) Mulligan 39 yard pass from Halesworth (Graf kick)
Fourth Quarter
NY – (08:50) Blum 4 yard pass from Douglas (kick failed)