For starters, take a look at the first quarter. New Jersey had the ball for 14:02 of the 15-minute quarter. They also recovered an on-sides kick and had a 10-play drive. But when the quarter ended, they could only muster a 6-0 lead. New Jersey scored on a five yard run by Foggie. This amazed the Kennel Club die-hards at Charlie Brown’s since NJ had a total of only ten yards all season. Then Steve Viditech, who has been pretty reliable this season, botched the extra point. And if that wasn’t weird enough, the Red Dogs caught Portland napping with a successful on-side kick recovered by Robert Stewart on the next play. But it was all for naught when Dragons’ DL Chuck Reed blew by a sleeping Wilky Bazile for a sack and a safety of Foggie who didn’t have a chance on the play. The score was 6-2. Yeah, SIX to TWO. And to boot, both scores wound up with Red Dog quarterback Rickey Foggie in the end zone.
After the second quarter safety, David Alcorn, the portly kicker from Portland hit a three-run triple to trim the baseball-like score to 6-5. Steve Viditech notched a FG of his own to give New Jersey a 9-5 advantage. But soon after this, Dragon’s QB Tom Beck ran for 29 yards for a TD to put Portland up 11-9. So at this point, we had an 11-9 score, two rushing TDs by both quarterbacks, an on-sides kick, a safety and for good measure, Portland already had been penalized five times. There was a degree of normalcy when Alvin Ashley scored his league-leading fourteenth touchdown of the season. New Jersey was up 15-11 and maybe things were beginning to settle down. But Viditech brought back the bizarre by missing his second extra point try. The half came to an end and we had only three TDs combined, only one via the pass, and every extra point was missed. All of a sudden, espn2’s scheduling didn’t seem that wacky by comparison.
Things did eventually settle down in the third quarter. New Jersey held the Dragons scoreless while the Red Dogs padded their lead with a Viditech field goal and a Chad Lindsey TD. More importantly, Viditech did not miss the point after try. The key to the quarter, and the game was a fumble recovery by NJ’s Chad Lindsey who was later named Ironman of the Game for his efforts.
In the fourth quarter, Portland made a switch at QB when they replace Tom Beck with third stringer Harry Leons. The new Dragon QB traded a pair of touchdowns with Rickey Foggie but couldn’t pull Portland within seven points. But just as a reminder that this was a weird game, the kickers Alcorn and Viditech each missed another extra point. New Jersey was glad to get the win, but the inaccuracy of Viditech has to be a concern. Why did he miss three of his four extra point attempts? It’s simple. Viditech has been with the Kennel Club for the Coaches radio show every Tuesday this season. But he missed this week. Result: a bad week. Alvin Ashley also was not with the KC on Tuesday. Result: a season-low one touchdown. Need more proof of the 'luck of the Club'? The Kennel Club invited the OL/DL to join in on Tuesday after racking up a record 18 penalties in Buffalo. They weren’t there and team set responded with 12 penalties vs Portland. For those of you keeping score at home, that is the second highest number of yellow flags per game in team history. 30 penalties in two weeks ain’t getting it done. But somehow, the Dogs won both games. "We’re like the old Raiders..." says Coach Mattiace. As long as we keep racking up wins, we’re with you coach.
All in all, a win is a win is a win. And despite the defection of John Hufnagel to the NFL, the loss of AFL star Larry Ray Willis and having to play seven of their last eight games on the road, New Jersey finds themselves atop the Eastern Division. You gotta take your hat off to the Doggies for that. And at 3-1, they are tied with the best record in the league. New Jersey has a ton of new faces and they will gel as the season progresses. Next stop is at home (finally!) in the Meadowlands versus the defending champion Orlando Predators led by former New York Jet QB Browning Nagle.