Knights Rally Past the Cobras : L.A. Loses in Arena Football Debut, 60-52

The Cobras, making their Arena Football League debut, lost to the New York Knights, 60-52, in front of 10,157 Saturday night at the Sports Arena.

Quarterback James Crocicchia rallied the Knights to victory by throwing three touchdown passes in the fourth quarter.

The Knights started off the fourth quarter with a 22-yard touchdown pass from Crocicchia to Edwin Lovelady. Crocicchia then went deep with two 45-yard touchdown passes to Lovelady and Al Washington, formerly of USC.

Crocicchia finished 12 of 27 for 331 yards with 8 touchdown passes.

Former UCLA quarterback Matt Stevens was 21 of 45 for 211 yards and 7 touchdowns. Stevens led the Cobras to a 46-42 lead after three quarters, but they couldn’t score again. Stevens connected for two touchdowns to receiver Richard Rodgers in the third quarter, one an 18-yarder that was deflected to Rodgers by a New York defender.

The Cobras showed an ability to strike quickly on offense but also had the ability to give up touchdowns just as quickly. They scored on two 1-play touchdown drives but also gave up 5 touchdown passes of more than 22 yards.

Stevens was 12 of 18 for 112 yards and 4 touchdowns in the first half. While Crocicchia was not as accurate--7-of-17 passing in the half--he was more productive, passing for 183 yards and 5 touchdowns.

Penalties also hurt the the Cobras. The Knights scored two touchdowns after Cobra interceptions were nullified because of illegal defense penalties.

Former Raider Cliff Branch caught 7 passes for 55 yards, including a 10-yard touchdown from Stevens.

The Cobras scored first on Stevens’ 1-yard sneak. But the Knights answered with two touchdown passes and eventually led at the half, 34-31.

Washington, who caught two long touchdowns for the Knights said: “I just beat my man with a post move on both touchdowns. It felt very good to come home and score.”

Other than quarterbacks, players go both ways in arena football, and Washington had to cover Branch. “It was a great challenge to cover Branch, but I think we did a good job on him,” Washington said.

Cobra Coach Ray Willsey said: “We have to work on our man coverage on defense, but I am not concerned all that much because we will improve. We wanted to win this one, and it is disappointing, but we will win here in L.A.”