STRONG START
Adrenaline annihilate Wildcats in AIFL debut
By Brad Fuqua
The Daily Courier
Sunday, March 30, 2008
www.dcourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=2&ArticleID=53873 The Daily Courier/Matt Hinshaw Ty Evans fights through a tackle by New Mexico’s Charles McLeod in Sunday’s opener.
PRESCOTT VALLEY - With six of its 14 games during this inaugural season against New Mexico, the Arizona Adrenaline had an opportunity to establish superiority right from the franchise's first-ever kickoff on Sunday at Tim's Toyota Center.
The Adrenaline outclassed the Wildcats in every facet of the game to dominate in a 66-21 victory.
"The first time, nothing is more important than a first impression," defensive end Joshua Duran said. "This was it. We dominated them. So plan on seeing that from us all year."
The Adrenaline appeared to be a hit in its debut with an estimated crowd of 4,400 - more than either of the Arizona Sundogs' hockey playoff games on Friday and Saturday.
"Regardless of who we were playing the first game to come out and put a good product on the field and show a lot of offense, do a good job on defense and get northern Arizona excited about arena football ... that was our goal today," quarterback Chad DeGrenier said.
Before those fans could settle in their seats, New Mexico had lit up the scoreboard on a 31-yard TD pass from QB Ronnie Simpson to receiver Darren Haliburton. But incredibly, the Adrenaline defense did not allow another score until late in the fourth quarter.
"I've watched arena football for a while. I've never really played it but to come out here and hold them to that few points, that's amazing," said Duran, who had three sacks, including two on one key second quarter series. "We had a lot of stops. I'm looking to have a good season."
The offense sparked just as much as the defense with DeGrenier and his former Arizona Rattlers teammate Maurice Bryant hooking up on four of the team's 10 touchdowns.
"We're just going to keep pouring it on," said Bryant, who had 6 catches for 130 yards. "Hey, we play them six times, I don't really care, you know what I'm saying? That'll just be more touchdowns for me and the rest of the team."
Running back Paris Moore also had four touchdowns - three on runs and the last on a 19-yard pass from backup quarterback Jason Swanson.
"We wanted to send a message to the whole league so we wanted to come out and put up some points," Moore said. "We put up 66, we were really going for 80, but we'll take the 66 and the win also."
Receiver Quincy Jackson added two touchdowns on catches of 10 and 17 yards. In all, DeGrenier completed 16-of-24 passes for 217 yards and six TDs.
"It's our goal to score every possession," DeGrenier said. "If you can do that in arena football, you're going to be very successful."
DeGrenier is a natural leader on the field. Besides his past experience with the Rattlers, he serves as a high school football coach at Cactus Shadows.
"I expected him to make the plays that he did and like I said, we've got a great group of receivers," Bryant said. "We just kept pouring it on, 66-21, baby, it's all good."
DeGrenier and Bryant also hooked up on four TDs in the Adrenaline's preseason game at Reading, Pa.
After leading 14-7 through the first, Arizona scored on all but one possession in the second quarter. But the clock stopped the Adrenaline more than the Wildcats and even then, Bryant nearly pulled in a 37-yard pass in the corner of the end zone on the final play. Arizona led 33-7 at halftime.
Arizona's defensive performance is a rare sight in the high-scoring world of indoor football. In the second when the game was still within the Wildcats' reach, defensive lineman Fernandez Shaw forced a fumble from the clutches of Simpson and Adrenaline teammate Chris Whitaker recovered at midfield.
Duran was in Simpson's face the whole game.
"The guy I was going against was pretty strong but I used my speed to my advantage to get around him and fake him out," Duran said. "It worked for so I'm going to keep doing that all year."
The Adrenaline sent several messages through the victory - to its fans, to the Wildcats and perhaps to Wyoming - which appears to be the favorite in the AIFL's West Division.
"We've got a long bus ride and they're up next," Moore said. "Sixty-six, I don't know, they just put up 80 points against their team. We'll see what happens."
Wyoming is an established football franchise but is playing its first season in the AIFL. The Cavalry debuted with an 81-29 victory over the Utah Saints. Arizona plays at Wyoming this coming Friday.
We'll get the other info tomorrow I'm sure. 
