Piranhas’ 2nd Victory Not Much to Look At

The Piranhas avoided becoming the Arena Football League’s worst team by rebounding from a pathetic first half to defeat the Portland Forest Dragons, 57-48, Friday night in front of an announced crowd of 8,426 at the Pond.

“Yeah, we didn’t want that,” Piranha quarterback John Kaleo, who made his first start since being acquired from San Jose 10 days ago. “We knew what was at stake. Both teams had one win. Now we got the deuce in there and we’re looking forward to No. 3 next week.

“It was kind of ugly, but we needed the win. We can build on this.”

Kaleo and his new team certainly didn’t want to build on the first quarter. In a league known for its high-scoring games, Portland (1-8) and Anaheim (2-7) combined for a grand total of no points in the first quarter.

Kaleo had an impressive debut last week against Orlando, completing 13 of 21 passes for three touchdowns, and he finished with decent numbers Friday--16 of 25 for 211 yards and five touchdowns.

But he didn’t start this night in grand fashion--misfiring on four of his first five attempts as he played catch with fans sitting in the first two rows. When he wasn’t overthrowing, Kaleo was running for his life.

He was sacked once and hit from the blind side on several occasions.

“I was concerned,” Kaleo said. “A guy gets concerned when he’s getting tossed around like a rag doll.”

Piranha Coach Mike Hohensee said there was a reason Kaleo was getting beat up.

“Our fullback, Kevin Carroll, got a concussion on the first play and he never told anybody,” Hohensee said. “He was going the wrong way and missing assignments.”

Carroll was removed in the second quarter, and suddenly Kaleo began getting more time. The Piranhas didn’t score their first points until Kaleo found Shannon Culver over the middle for nine yards with a minute left in the half. The Forest Dragons and the Piranhas exchanged touchdowns before the half and Portland led, 14-10.

The Piranhas outscored Portland, 20-7, in third quarter to take a 34-24 lead. Defensive specialist Rodney Mazion was directly responsible for two of the three touchdowns. He returned the third-quarter kickoff 45 yards to the Portland five--setting up Kaleo’s 17-yard touchdown pass to Shannon Culver. And he brought back a missed field goal 50 yards--leading to Kaleo’s two-yard touchdown run.

“That was the key to the game,” Hohensee said. “We knew special teams were going to be the difference because these teams are pretty evenly matched otherwise.”

The Piranhas kept their lead the rest of the way and they took advantage of a Portland blunder for their first touchdown of the fourth quarter. Return man Ryan Benjamin misplayed a Ian Howfield missed field goal off the crossbar--giving Derek Hill an easy three-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown.

The Piranhas have had a lot of things go against them this year, but maybe their luck is beginning to change.

“I’ll take it anyway I can get it,” Hohensee said. “It was ugly though.”