Arena Football League : Cobras Salvage an Overtime Tie With Chicago

The Los Angeles Cobras closed out their first Arena Football League regular season by playing the Chicago Bruisers to a 37-37 overtime tie Thursday night before a season-high crowd of 10,263 at the Sports Arena.

In a battle involving backup quarterbacks, the Cobras rallied to send the game into this season’s first Arena League overtime on a 15-yard touchdown pass from Michael Mendoza to Joe Kelly.

Chicago had taken the lead on a 23-yard field goal by Marco Morales with 55 seconds remaining in the game, before the Cobras came back to tie it.

Behind Mendoza, a former star at Torrance’s Bishop Montgomery High School and Harbor City’s Harbor College, the Cobras marched to a score in five plays, climaxed by Mendoza’s strike to Kelly.

After trailing, 20-16, at halftime, the Cobras took a 30-26 lead in the third quarter. Mendoza threw two touchdown passes in the period, on a 10-yard play to Wade Lockett and a 4-yard play to Matt McKnight.

The Cobras seemed to have the game won early in the fourth quarter before the Bruisers rallied behind their backup quarterback, Willie Totten. Totten, who used to team up with San Francisco 49ers receiver Jerry Rice at Mississippi Valley State College, threw for two fourth-quarter touchdowns to give the Bruisers the lead.

Because of the tie, the Cobras will meet the Bruisers in the first round of the playoffs July 23 at the Rosemont Horizon in Rosemont, Ill.

Both teams used their starting quarterbacks sparingly, saving them for the playoffs. The Cobras’ Matt Stevens, who leads the league in passing, played in only the first quarter, and the Bruisers’ Ben Bennett in just the first half.

In his Arena Football debut, Mendoza had an up-and-down night, completing 26 of 48 passes for 269 yards and 4 touchdowns but had 2 interceptions and a lost fumble.

Mendoza entered the game in the second quarter with the Cobras trailing, 13-6. Stevens completed 4 of 9 passes for 63 yard before his pre-planned departure.

Cobra Coach Ray Willsey said: “This game won’t have any resemblance to what lies ahead. Next week is an entirely different matter. I had planned on playing Stevens only in the first quarter all along.”

Totten finished 8 of 18 for 126 yards and 2 touchdowns, and Bruiser receiver Carl Aikens caught 8 passes for 164 yards.

The Cobras also received fine performances from Cliff Branch, who had 10 catches for 116 yards, and Lockett, who scored 2 touchdowns.