This Victory Is Music to Piranhas’ Ears

The Piranhas turned up the music and turned on the defense Sunday night to raise their record to an Arena Football League-best 7-0 with a 41-27 victory over the Milwaukee Mustangs in front of a season-high crowd of 15,682 at the Pond.

The Piranhas’ defensive pressure on quarterback Todd Hammel was almost as relentless as the music--which once blared so loudly the Piranhas were penalized for delay of game, nullifying a five-yard loss and leading to Milwaukee’s last touchdown.

“That’s the first time I’ve ever heard of that,” Piranhas’ Coach Babe Parilli said. “When you go to Orlando, you can barely hear yourself think.”

Anaheim sacked Hammel twice and pressured him into throwing two interceptions to Rodney Mazion, leading to two Piranha third-quarter touchdowns that broke open a close game.

“Hammel hadn’t had much pressure on him all year,” Mazion said. “He didn’t like to be hit, so our game plan was to get to him. I take my hat off to the defensive line. They did a great job all night.”

Hammel, who completed 18 of 37 passes for 176 yards and two touchdowns, spent most of the game throwing off his back foot and running from Piranha defensive linemen Sam Hernandez, Sal Poulivaati, Lorenzo Reed and Kevin Carroll.

“They were running everything we thought they were,” said Hammel, who had thrown only two interceptions in his first five games. “They had their linebacker [Carroll] running on everything and we weren’t able to get set and get into our rhythm.”

Defensive coordinator George Brancato said he had the Mustangs (4-2) fooled for much of the game.

“We were sitting in a half-man, half-zone defense,” he said. “They never read it until the second half. The kids disguised it well.”

If not for two Anaheim first-half turnovers deep in Milwaukee territory, the Piranhas could have had a three-touchdown lead at halftime. With Anaheim leading, 7-0, late in the first quarter, Piranhas quarterback Scooter Molander’s pitch to James Johnson on the Milwaukee five-yard line was fumbled and recovered by the Mustangs.

On the next play, Jeff Savage ran 45 yards for a touchdown to tie the score.

“We self-destruct down inside the five and we have to correct that,” Parilli said. “We got too fancy down there. We shouldn’t have tried to pitch the ball and that’s my fault.”

With Anaheim leading, 14-7, and driving inside Milwaukee territory, Molander’s pass was tipped and intercepted by Mike Babb, a former Sunny Hills High and Golden West College player. Milwaukee eventually capitalized and tied it on a four-yard run by Savage.

But Molander did more than enough to make up for his mistakes. He completed 17 of 29 passes for 239 yards and five touchdowns, two to Adrian Jarrell and one to Jemone Smith, Nathan Burchette and Anthony Bridges.

The Piranhas were also helped by Milwaukee kicker Kenny Stucker, who missed all four of his field-goal attempts despite starting the game as the AFL’s second-leading kicker. Piranhas’ kicker Ian Howfield, the AFL’s leading kicker, made his only attempts from 29 and 39 yards.

Saturday night at the Pond, the Piranhas begin the second half of the season against the only other undefeated team in the AFL, defending AFL champion Tampa Bay (6-0). They might have to play the Storm without three starters, who were injured Sunday night. Smith re-injured his shoulder and Johnson and Bridges sprained ankles.

“This is the most physical game we’ve played,” Parilli said. “We’ve got some guys pretty banged up.”

But Mazion said his team will be ready.

“I have a feeling this might not be the last time we play these guys,” he said. “I’d be surprised if we didn’t see them again in the Arena Bowl.”