Defense fails the Thunder

Mahoning Valley failed to make one defensive stop in a 62-26 loss to Florida.

By DAN RYAN

SPECIAL TO THE VINDICATOR

ESTERO, Fla. — An arena football team trying to snap a three-game losing streak needs to get at least one defensive stop.

The Mahoning Valley Thunder didn’t Saturday night, and now their losing streak is four after the Florida Firecats ran away to a 62-26 af2 victory before 5,038 at Germaine Arena.

Florida, which had lost three of its last four games after a 3-0 start, pulled away from a 20-13 second quarter lead after the Thunder (3-4) failed to scored on its first two possessions in the third quarter.

Mahoning Valley scored two unanswered touchdowns to close a 41-13 deficit to 41-26 but couldn’t score in the fourth quarter while giving up 21 points, including a rushing touchdown on the game’s final play.

“We just got whipped,’’ Thunder coach Mike Hold said. “Obviously, Florida executed very well tonight and we didn’t make any stops or big plays on offense.”

The quarterbacks’ numbers

Glenn Gauntt, who played his college ball at nearby South Florida, had decent numbers — 181 yards and four touchdowns — but couldn’t match the efficiency of Firecats quarterback Chris Wallace.

How efficient? Wallace had five fewer attempts (33) then Gauntt but still had one more touchdowns, six more completions (24) and 29 more yards as he spread the ball evenly to his three receivers who found a way to get open in the corners.

Chris McKenney had 10 catches for 111 yards and two scores for the Firecats, while Magic Benton (6-57) scored twice and Ethenic Sands (7-47) once.

Spoiled in the loss was Chris Archie’s 11 catches for 121 yards and three touchdowns.

Florida scored on all four first-half possessions to take a 27-13 lead

The Thunder did manage one lead at 7-6 on Gauntt’s 11-yarder to Demarcus Mathes and Derek Schorejs’ point after with 11:17 remaining in the half.

However, the scoring drive was tedious at best — 12 plays and seven minutes — with one touchdown called back on offsetting penalties and two Gauntt sacks.

Mahoning Valley closed to 20-13 on a Archie 8-yarder from Gauntt with 41 seconds left in the half, but the Firecats matriculated the ball perfectly and maintained its two-score advantage when Wallace hit Benton for a touchdown 10 seconds before halftime.

To symbolize the first half, Schorejes’ field goal on the final play had the distance and accuracy, but hit an overhead speaker.

The Thunder hosts Manchester Friday night at the Chevrolet Centre.

“All we can do is just go back to worki,” Hold said. “It’s just not one thing we need to work on.”

Notes

The Thunder defense has not registered an interception in four games … Archie has had at least two touchdown catches in all seven games this season … Chris Johnson was taken to a local hospital after suffering a scary-looking elbow injury in the fourth quarter... The Thunder was held to 26 points for the second straight week.