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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, June 30, 2002

Islanders turn to defense in containing Blitz, 49-35

By Kyle Sakamoto
Advertiser Staff Writer

 •  Hawaiian Islanders
March 30 Fresno W, 50-47
April 13 Bakersfield L, 52-32
April 20 at Quad City L, 69-39
April 27 at Wichita L,31-27
May 4 Tulsa L, 70-42
May 11 San Diego L, 52-50
May 18 at Tulsa L,73-48
May 25 at Fresno L,55-48
June 1 at San Diego L, 44-34
June 8 Peoria L,64-50
June 14 San Diego W, 53-34
June 22 at Bakersfield L, 56-48
June 29 Bakersfield W, 49-35
July 12 at Arkansas
July 20 Quad City
July 27 at Fresno
In Week No. 2, the Hawaiian Islanders were no match for the Bakersfield Blitz.

Last week, the Islanders got closer, but still fell short.

Last night, the Islanders finally figured out the Blitz.

They did it with a stingy second-half defense and triple-threat Nian Taylor to beat Bakersfield, 49-35, in an arenafootball2 game at the Blaisdell Arena.

The Islanders (3-10) held Bakersfield (7-5) to seven points and 143 yards in the second half. The Blitz came into the game averaging 48.6 points per game.

The Islanders held Bakersfield scoreless in the third quarter — just the second time this season they held a team scoreless in a quarter.

"The D-line played great," Islanders defensive coordinator Al Noga said. "They rushed the passer. They finished the game really strong, and that's the way we should always finish things."

Taylor, who debuted for the Islanders last week at Bakersfield, caught four passes for 99 yards and three touchdowns.

He caught a 45-yard touchdown pass from Darnell Arceneaux in the first quarter, a 36-yarder at the end of the first half and a 13-yarder with a minute left to make the score 43-35.

Bakersfield had a chance at a tie, but quarterback Chad Elliott fumbled the ball after a hit by Josh "Zeus" White, and Chris Paogofie scooped up the ball and ran 18 yards for a score with 2.7 seconds left.

"When we get defensive stops you're going to win every time," Islanders head coach Chad Carlson said.

Taylor intercepted an Elliott pass in the end zone and returned the ball to the Islanders' 14 with 7.8 seconds left in the first half.

"He's a guy you can depend on making big plays," Noga said. "He can cover and he has speed."

Two plays later, Arceneaux threw a pass off the end zone rebound net and Taylor hauled it in with no time remaining as Hawai'i took a 30-28 lead into intermission.

"We're 3 of 4 off the net," said Arceneaux, who completed 12 of 28 passes for 170 yards and five touchdowns. "That's our play, so everybody can stop calling it luck."

Said Taylor: "We called it in the huddle. He said, 'Run to the net,' and I'm used to catching the ball off the net on kickoff returns. I caught it with one hand."

Taylor, who played eight games earlier this season with the Richmond Speed, celebrated by slamming his helmet to the artificial turf.

"I threw my helmet off, that was adrenaline," he said.

It was a big momentum swing heading into halftime.

"That's huge because we were getting seven points and it turns around to negative-seven," Bakersfield coach James Fuller said. "You never want a team to score before the half."

Taylor had a 48-yard return off a missed field goal to set up a 5-yard touchdown pass from Arceneaux to Taulia Lave with five minutes left in the first quarter to make the score 17-7.

Earlier in the day, the Islanders were eliminated from the playoffs after the San Diego Riptide beat the Fresno Frenzy, 67-33.

"This isn't about the playoffs," Carlson said. "We had our chances early in the season. We didn't get it done."