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Tampa Bay Stays Alive In Playoff Hunt

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By ADAM ADKINS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 8, 2008

TAMPA - Every time the Tampa Bay Storm's backs have been against the wall this season, they've dug down deep and found a way to keep their season alive. It happened again Saturday night.

Quarterback Brett Dietz threw a franchise-record-tying eight touchdowns and receiver Hank Edwards had a huge return from a two-week absence with nine receptions for 131 yards and four scores as the Storm defeated rival Orlando 71-61 in front of an announced crowd of 17,344 at the St. Pete Times Forum.

"We've been fighting all season long," defensive back Traco Rachal said. "I've said it before and I'll say it again. Sometimes the ball bounces our way and sometimes it don't, but this team is resilient. When our backs are against the wall, we know how to come out and fight."

The victory kept Tampa Bay alive for a playoff berth. The Storm (7-7) still remain the No. 8 seed in the National Conference standings, but the team is just one game back of a playoff berth. Tampa Bay now must keep the momentum going, and the Storm, who have won four of their past five, feel confident they can do that.

"We've got to do it," Storm coach Tim Marcum said. "We won three in a row before we lost to Georgia. As you know, the Georgia game was a fluke, we got totally screwed there. So we could really be on a good roll right now had we not had that thing taken from us. We've got a tough thing to do. We've got two to play and we've got two to win."

Tampa Bay took control of the latest installment in the War on I-4 in a series of plays surrounding halftime.

The first was Sedrick Robinson's 58-yard kickoff return for a touchdown on the final play of the first half, a score that gave the Storm a 42-32 lead at the break.

"That was huge," Dietz said. "We'd been waiting for that all year."

On the Predators' opening possession of the second half, Rachal forced a turnover by stripping the ball away from DeAndrew Rubin. Tampa Bay's offense converted on the ensuing play, with Dietz hitting Edwards on a 22-yard scoring strike.

Orlando (8-7) turned it over again on its next possession, with a snap going through the hands of quarterback Shane Stafford and through the back of the end zone for a safety, which put Tampa Bay ahead 50-32. While the Storm's offense failed to capitalize on the extra possession, the 18-point lead proved enough of a cushion the rest of the game, thanks in part to Rachal's game-sealing interception of Stafford with 47 seconds left in the game.

"Our mentality is each game is a playoff game. The old saying, 'Win or go home,' that's what it is right now," Rachal said. "Regardless of coming off a win or what not, it's win or go home. None of us want to go home. We all want to stay here until August, and you know, that's our goal.

"We're just going to take it one game at a time and continue to fight."

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