Written by Erik Slaby
Orlando, FL – On a surprisingly cool night here at Spectrum Stadium, the Orlando Apollos fell to the Arizona Hotshots, by a score of 22-17. This loss ended any hopes Orlando had for an undefeated season. Orlando had chances to take the lead and win throughout the game, but they failed to take advantage of Arizona’s mistakes, as well as continually had self-inflicted mistakes. Those mistakes haunted Orlando on their final two drives of the game, with the chance to win.
On Orlando’s second to last drive, right after the Hotshots had scored a touchdown to take a 22-17 lead, Orlando got the ball back on their 25-yard line with 5:17 left to play. Orlando systematically moved down the field and 38 yards later, with the ball on the Arizona 37-yard line with two minutes left to play, the Apollos were in great position to take back the lead. That’s when disaster struck.
After the two-minute-warning, on 2nd & 4, Orlando quarterback Garrett Gilbert dropped back to pass and was sacked for an eight-yard loss and fumbled the ball and Arizona recovered it. For most of the night, Orlando struggled against the Arizona pass rush, whether it be one or two linemen losing their one-on-one matchup, or Gilbert holding the ball too long. And that was the case on that play.
The Orlando defense held firm on the next drive and forced Arizona to punt, despite missing a couple players to injury and linebacker Terence Garvin to an ejection. Orlando started the drive at their 18-yard line, with 55 seconds left and no timeouts. 30 seconds later, Orlando had advanced the ball to the Arizona 34-yard line after an impressive 48-yard catch and run from Gilbert to tight end Sean Price.
After two incomplete passes, including one that was almost caught in the end zone for the game-winning score, Orlando advanced the ball to the Arizona 8-yard line after a 26-yard pass from Gilbert to wide receiver Jalin Marshall. However, the pass was to the middle of the field and with no timeouts left, Orlando needed to rush to the line to spike the ball. With four seconds left, it appeared they were able to successfully spike the ball but unfortunately, not every player was set, which caused Orlando to be flagged for a false start. Because it was within two minutes, there is a 10 second runoff and with Orlando not having any timeouts left to prevent the runoff, the game was over. Gilbert spoke after the game about the penalty.
“At the end of the day it is what it is,” said a disappointed Gilbert. “It’s on me. I thought we had everyone set, but I just need to do a better job of making sure we have guys where we need them.” He also added, “we did not do much well. We continually shot ourselves in the foot. There is something we can improve. We have to do a better job of taking care of our stuff and executing.”
Probably the most frustrating thing for Orlando was that they consistently had self-inflicted errors and did not take advantage of Arizona’s mistakes. The execution wasn’t there for Orlando. It was a sloppy game at times for both teams as they were plagued with drops by wide receivers, missed turnover opportunities and penalties. Arizona had 12 penalties for 142 yards and Orlando had seven for 79 yards. Apollos head coach Steve Spurrier spoke after the game about the teams’ performance.
“Well, we’re not going to go undefeated,” said Spurrier with a bit of a sad smile. “We didn’t play well enough. We didn’t coach well enough. We got one thrown out of the game for slugging. That is an embarrassment to me and the other coaches that we can’t teach these guys to play by the rules. Anyway, it was a loss. We had our chances, but it didn’t work out.”
Gilbert led the way offensively for Orlando, completing 23-48 passes for 268 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. That interception was Gilbert’s first interception of the season. Marshall led the receivers with six catches for 98 yards and one touchdown. Orlando Linebacker Reggie Northrup II led the defense with a combined 13 tackles, including a tackle for loss.
Spurrier stated that even though they lost today, they still are in the driver’s seat and accomplish everything they wanted to this season.
“We’ve got a lot of ball left. This is just one game. We can get the guys next week in Atlanta.”
Next week, Orlando travels to Atlanta to face off against the Atlanta Legends In Georgia State Stadium, on March 23rd at 3PM EST. The game will be broadcasted on TNT.
(Image — >>> ORLANDO, FLORIDA – MARCH 16: Jhurell Pressley #26 of the Arizona Hotshots makes a
