Islanders' playoff hopes take hit with defeat
Advertiser Staff
The Hawaiian Islanders won't retain their West Division title in 2004, and their playoff hopes are extremely slim with one week remaining in the season.
The lowly Central Valley Coyotes scored on a 13-yard pass from Frank Borba to LaMonte Jones with 15 seconds remaining and Borba ran in the two-point conversion to stun the Islanders, 64-63, in an arenafootball2 game last night at Fresno, Calif.
The Islanders' Kimo Naehu missed a 55-yard field-goal attempt on the final play of the game.
"I thought he had a good leg on it, but it was off to the left a little bit," Islanders head coach Cal Lee said. "He had the distance and it had a chance."
Central Valley (2-13) had been 0-10 against West Division opponents this season and on an eight-game losing streak.
The Islanders (8-7) took a 63-56 lead with 1 minute remaining after Vai Notoa's 3-yard run and a two-point conversion pass from Shawn Withy-Allen to Nian Taylor.
The Coyotes took over at the Islanders' 22, and scored four plays later on Borba's pass to Jones.
Central Valley decided to go for the win and had two chances at it.
On the first attempt, Borba threw an incomplete pass, but the Islanders were called for holding. Borba scrambled in on the next play.
"It was just one of those plays where he just kind of scrambled," Lee said. "I thought we had him surrounded and he did a nice job avoiding us."
The Islanders ran three plays before Naehu's missed attempt.
Earlier yesterday, the San Diego Riptide (8-7) beat the visiting Bakersfield Blitz (10-5) in the other West Division game, 34-30. If the Islanders had won last night, they could have retained their division championship with a victory of at least six points next week at Bakersfield. Instead, the Blitz clinched the West after the Islanders' loss.
"I think they understood everything was on the line," Lee said. "I told them before the game it's like a playoff game. They feel down because they found out Bakersfield lost and that compounds everything."
The Islanders can still make the six-team National Conference playoffs as one of three wild-card teams, but they will need a lot of help. The Islanders must beat Bakersfield next weekend, and the Wichita Stealth (8-7), Louisville Fire (9-6) and San Diego all must lose.
"Right now the only thing we're doing is playing our last game against Bakersfield," Lee said. "We have to try harder and try not to make mistakes."
Last night's game had six ties and three lead changes.
The Islanders had an early 14-0 lead, but missed a chance to extend it when an interception return for a score by Taylor was negated by a whistle blown from the stands during the play.
The officials disallowed the play and Central Valley kept possession.
"He intercepts the pass, we score and there's a flag in the end zone," said Lee, who originally thought the flag was for a late hit. "They were huddling and called for a dead ball. That would have definitely helped anytime you can go up 21-0."
Gabe Amey and Anthony Arceneaux both caught two touchdown passes from Withy-Allen, and Notoa rushed for three scores.
PLAYOFF SCENARIO
National Conference
Six teams make playoffs
x-1. Tulsa Talon (12-3): Clinched Southwest Division, No. 1 seed and first-round bye
x-2. Bakersfield Blitz (10-5): Clinched West Division
3. Peoria Pirates (9-6): Midwest Division leader
x-4. Oklahoma City Yard Dawgs (10-6): Clinched wild card
5. Louisville Fire (9-6): Has head-to-head advantage over Quad City
6. Quad City Steamwheelers (9-6)
7. Wichita Stealth (8-7): Has strength-of-schedule advantage over San Diego, Islanders
8. San Diego Riptide (8-7): Has head-to-head advantage over Islanders
9. Hawaiian Islanders (8-7)
x-Clinched playoff spot
