Piranhas Persist, Defeat Florida

The Piranhas didn’t set any Arena Football League attendance records with the announced crowd of 11,882 for their home opener. But they did prove they can deal with a little adversity and play defense when they have to.

Though they gave up 38 points in the second and third quarters, the Piranhas shut out the Florida Bobcats in the first and fourth quarters in a 50-38 comeback victory Sunday night at the Pond. The Piranhas set an Arena League attendance mark with more than 15,000 at their first exhibition game two weeks ago.

“A little sloppy, but we had a character check and the guys came through with flying colors,” Piranhas Coach Babe Parilli said. “We turned into a football team tonight.”

The Piranhas (2-0) were not seriously challenged in any of their three previous exhibition and regular-season games, but they twice trailed by nine points against Florida (1-1). The Bobcats fell behind, 10-0, after a quarter, but quarterback Fred McNair got hot in the second quarter and didn’t cool down until the fourth quarter.

McNair, brother of Houston Oiler quarterback Steve McNair, threw touchdown passes of 36 and 45 yards to Millard Hamilton and scoring passes of 16 and 19 yards to Bernard Edwards and Bobby Byrd. Much of the time, McNair’s victim was Piranha defensive specialist Rodney Mazion, a 5-foot-8, 180-pounder from Nevada Las Vegas who was having trouble with Edwards, a 6-5, 205-pounder from Ohio State.

“We weren’t doing what we were supposed to be doing,” Mazion said. “It didn’t have anything to do with their size. We go against big receivers in practice all day.”

But Mazion got his revenge against Edwards when it counted. With Florida trailing, 43-38, with 6 minutes 30 seconds left, Mazion intercepted an underthrown pass by McNair in the end zone.

“I saw him when he released the ball,” said Mazion, who intercepted a pass in the first quarter, returned five kicks for 110 yards and was named the game’s MVP. “I just broke on the football. We’re taught to catch the ball at its highest point. I just jumped as high as I could. It’s a tough position to play. I’m just glad the coaches had the confidence in me.”

Confidence was something Piranha kicker Ian Howfield didn’t have before the game as he missed everything he tried. But Howfield came through once the 15-minute pre-game extravaganza ended--kicking field goals of 28, 48 and 46 without a miss.

Piranhas quarterback Scooter Molander wasn’t sharp early as he completed only nine of 24 passes in the first half for 90 yards and an interception.

“Their secondary is as good as I’ve seen,” he said. “Defensively, they did some things we haven’t seen in a while. We were fortunate we were able to learn some lessons in a win.”

Molander had a big hand in the comeback. As the hyper public-address announcer asked the fans if they wanted a touchdown, Molander delivered. He completed 10 of 15 in the second half for 101 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. He scored on an eight-yard option run with 11:23 left to give the Piranhas their first lead since the second quarter.

He gave the Piranhas a 43-38 lead with a seven-yard touchdown pass to his favorite target, Adrian Jarrell from Notre Dame, in the corner of the end zone. The pass was tipped at the line, but Jarrell adjusted in mid air.

Jarrell caught eight passes for 67 yards.

The Piranhas’ defense wrapped up the victory when Sam Fernandez raced around end and stripped McNair in the end zone and linebacker Nathan Burchette picked up the ball and walked a yard into the end zone.